


More Than Words

by Faceless_Void



Category: Naruto
Genre: Age Difference, Canonical Character Death, Cheating, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-08 01:29:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13447632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faceless_Void/pseuds/Faceless_Void
Summary: It's been twenty years since the Fourth Great Ninja War. Now it's the new generation's turn to earn their glory, but what about the heroes of the war? Are their lives really as flawless as their children are made to believe? For how long can peace last in a world that was built on corpses and blood? And finally, what is more important — honesty or love?





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made by the authors.

Author's Note: Greetings to my old and new readers. To those of you who are my old subscribers and are wondering where have I been in the last few months and when am I planning to update my other stories, I'll leave a second note by the end of the chapter, so feel free to scroll down right away if you want to know these things.

To the rest of you, I'd like to welcome you guys and to say a few important things before you start reading this story.

This was initially an experiment. I'd say that the main genres are Hurt & Comfort / Drama / Romance / Angst, but the very essense of my idea is just to show the things we saw in Boruto anime/movie/manga from a perspective of adults. I have noticed quite a few interesting and disturbing things in canon which are commonly overlooked by the community, because that story is being told us from the perspective of kids, and children tend to not notice things like that. Therefore you may consider this just an alternative point of view on how did the war and the following events affect Naruto and the rest of his generation, and what do they truly feel about their lives a couple decades since that time, when their children have already grown up. I don't intend to 'redpill' anyone, this is just my personal point of view I'm offering for your consideration.

 **TL/DR:**  This story is about adult problems and the conflict of mutual understanding between generations, so don't expect some trash cliche romance stuff. You've been warned.

Lastly, I'd like to leave a few  **WARNINGS**! This story is going to be pretty dark in every sense, and you may expect to find the following this here: Cheating, Gore, lots of angst, deaths of important characters and non-typical pairings. Every character participating in a romantic relationship here is of age, though, so if you came here for lolicon or just porn — once again, sorry, not happening.

P.S. I know that there will likely be many flaming reviews coming from the fans of canon pairings; I aspire you guys to unleash your anger as much as possible. Your butthurt is always my delight! ;)

* * *

**MORE THAN WORDS**

**Chapter 1. Just Another Day**

To everyone including her it was just another lazy and uneventful evening in Konohagakure. Golden rays of the beautiful sunset were gently caressing the crowns of ancient trees around the village while the quiet chirping of some little bird sounded like a lullaby to her, sometimes interrupted by indistinct voices of countless people who were constantly walking the street outside her house. This dull atmosphere was unobtrusive yet somehow at the same time, it felt slightly oppressive, not letting the girl focus on the book she was holding, which made her feel a bit frustrated. Unwanted thoughts were constantly breaking in her head, resulting in her having to reread every line on the page twice or even more to grasp what exactly the author had meant. She glanced at the clock on the wall — evidently, she hadn't made much progress in the last couple hours…

Apparently, procrastination was her doom nowadays.

Sarada sighed, turning her head and gazing out the window melancholically. All those people, ninjas and civilians… There were so many of them even just outside the house. Why did she feel like the world was completely empty then? After all, she had a lot of friends and comrades. Hell, she was one of the best kunoichi of her generation, everyone already admitted it. Many people already believed her to be their next Hokage even though she was only seventeen. Throughout numerous missions she had managed to earn everyone's respect, love and trust… Frankly, it was already hard to go somewhere without somebody calling her out for whatever reason.

Yet still the girl felt lonelier than ever, and she couldn't understand why.

Her gaze slid to the picture on her desk, and she frowned, readjusting the glasses on her nose as she met the image of the impassive black eyes. Her father… She hadn't seen Uchiha Sasuke in two years. Lord Seventh and her mother told her that he was out for another top secret mission, but the young kunoichi wasn't entirely sure if this was truly the reason behind his absence. After all, she wasn't twelve anymore, she had come to realize some things about the life of adults. It wasn't all that simple… To be completely honest, her family was an awful mess since the very beginning. Not that it bothered Sarada all that much - after all, knowing the history of her clan as well as her father's biography, she realized that it could've been much worse, so she never complained even deep inside. At least she had a loving dad and mom who also respected each other. And the details of their relationship were none of her concern…

She stretched her back and arms, locking her elegant thin fingers in front of her which made a crunchy sound. Yes, her life was more than decent, the girl happily admitted. The only thing that she really hated right now was this horrible boredom…

Sarada then glanced at the Hokage monument, frowning at the face with whisker marks carved in stone. Unlike hers, Boruto's family wasn't quite okay, it seemed. Even by her own rather humble standards…

Yes, contrary to her careless and eccentric friend, she was quite shrewd, and she couldn't overlook some obvious things the boy seemed to either neither notice, or just ignored, which would also be understandable. Something wasn't right within Uzumaki clan, and the more perfect their image looked on pictures in various tabloids and newspapers, the more blatant it became to the attentive kunoichi.

Besides, unlike most, she spent hours with Lord Seventh on a daily basis. And no matter how perfectly mastered his everyday mask of fake happiness was, sometimes there were… moments. Little events and phases he uttered ever so quietly to himself, so deep in thought that it sometimes made him forget that she was there inside his office too, but it clearly showed that things in his life were much more complicated than he allowed everyone (including her) to see.

But even that wasn't what made her so sure that their Hokage wasn't a happy man at all. She knew for a fact that he was a master of Shadow Clones. He could make thousands of them, therefore any simple routine work (for instance, signing papers) shouldn't have been an obstacle on his way of being with his family. Hell, Seventh even made Konohamaru, who had transformed into him, take part in the inauguration ceremony instead of him! If it was even possible for such important occasions, then why the hell did Naruto spend all his time in his office, even sleeping there most nights?

She sighed, shaking her head. It wasn't her right to pry, of course. Frankly, it was none of her business at all, yet she couldn't help but wonder what on earth could be wrong in their house. After all, Hyūga Hinata was such an amazing and kind woman… And beautiful, too. And as far as Boruto was concerned, she and her husband had never ever had a fight. So why did their family nowadays give such… uneasy vibes?

It wasn't just her. Chōchō and Mitsuki noticed it, too. Even Himawari, that wonderful and cheerful girl seemed rather elegiac and thoughtful of late…

It was sad. All of them (except for maybe Boruto who always reminded Sarada of her own father, which made her slightly dislike him for his attitude toward his own family) were absolutely amazing people, and she didn't want them to feel bad. Yet she couldn't help but think that something nasty was going to happen in their small clan soon…

The kunoichi quickly shook her head, pushing the depressive thoughts away before smiling as she decided to think of something pleasant instead. She now remembered her encounter with the Seventh a week ago… An event that had changed her world forever in a matter of a split second.

Back then, as they were returning from the latest B-rank mission, the rest of her team decided that it was her turn to go to the Hokage with the report. It was already late evening, Boruto was displeased with something again, and Sarada was just too tired to argue with that moron. As she had come to the residence of the Seventh, the girl didn't hesitate to rush to his office to settle the issue as soon as possible. Naturally, she forgot to knock on the door as she was too tired and abstracted at the moment, so she just walked in.

What she saw inside had shocked the kunoichi to the very core.

Uzumaki Naruto, the Seventh Hokage, turned sideways toward the door, was changing. The Sun was lighting up his half-naked body, making the heart of the young Uchiha beat faster. And the naive, almost childish blush on his cheeks that appeared as he noticed his visitor, instantly made her fall in love with him.

The smile on Sarada's lips widened as she played with the long strands of her silky black hair. Remembering this event always made her want to giggle like a little girl. Back then, he was failing to get dressed properly out of embarrassment, so he just put his cloak on as quick as he could, but the piece of cloth barely hid anything. If anything, it made the situation even more frank — white fabric only narrowed the beauty of his body, even making the girl inadvertently fantasize a little bit…Unfortunately, she had a very good imagination.

When Sarada, whose face was even deeper red than a ripe tomato, had finally managed to leave his office, she leaned on the wall in the empty corridor of the building. Her heart was racing, and she couldn't calm it down no matter how much she tried. The memories of the prominent muscles of his back, the way his clearly visible abs flexed, and how terribly cute his whiskered cheeks reddened when he so childishly apologized for his inappropriate attire…

"Sarada, sweetheart! I'm home!" she heard the voice of her mother, reluctantly shaking her head again and trying to rip herself out of the world of lucid dreams.

Cursing quietly, the Uchiha girl rubbed her blushing face and tried to collect her thoughts quickly before Sakura would come into her room.

"Welcome home, mum!" She replied, scolding herself silently for the unusually squeaky nervous voice.

"Now, now," the pink haired woman walked in, coming close to her desk. "Why is your face so red? Are you feeling alright?" She asked worriedly, putting her palm on her daughter's forehead which made the girl wince a bit.

"Yeah, I'm okay, it's nothing, I swear," she blurted out, and it probably was a bit too fast, for Sakura only smirked understandingly, patting her temple lightly.

"Nothing, huh? I bet it's a boy, isn't it?" asked the older kunoichi, beginning her usual interrogation.

It's been almost a year since the time she started to try to venture into her personal life, which was nonexistent unknown to Sakura, of course. Still these attempts were more than annoying, especially when she implied that her love interest was…

"How is Boruto-kun? I haven't seen him in a while," the woman carefully suggested, clearly enjoying the way Sarada giggled at the mention of her friend's name.

Oh, my dear mother, if only you knew how close and, at the same time, how far your guess is from the truth...

"He's fine. I haven't seen him since last weekend, and I hope not to see him again at least this week," she snorted, looking away.

Of course, it was a bit of acting on her part. She didn't really mind Boruto's company at all, but the girl had figured out that this kind of behavior would only increase her mother's suspicion about her "feelings" for the boy, which was exactly her intention — as annoying as it was, this wrong assurance was far better than had her mother known the truth.

Sakura sighed, looking away which made Sarada wary. Something wasn't right about her reaction… But why? Her mother had never been very shrewd…

The girl's face instantly blanched. Had she somehow given herself away?

"So it's not him, is it?" asked the Uchiha matriarch softly, meeting the scared gaze of the girl.

"Uh—well…," Sarada mumbled, unsure what to say. How? How on earth could she know…?

"It's okay, sweetheart. I understand your feelings perfectly. I've had a similar boy in my life when I was your age…," she smiled a bit sadly, looking out the window dreamily.

The girl frowned. She didn't like it when her mother looked so lost and sad. It always reminded her how lonely this woman truly was… She needed to distract her somehow… Maybe…

"M-Mom—well… Actually… I'm in love with someone! But—well… He's older than me! What should I do?" There was a long awkward silence.

Apparently, Sakura was too shocked with the unexpected revelation — usually Sarada was very secretive whenever something personal was concerned, much like her father. And the girl herself… She was just happy she hadn't said something worse. For instance, 'Mom, I like Hokage-sama, how can I make him notice me?' Or 'Mom, I like a boy, but he's in his late thirties, and has a wife and two kids, how do I make him fall in love with me?' She got goosebumps by only imagining Sakura's possible reaction…

At the same time, she felt a small note of sadness as she remembered that the Seventh was a married man, and the fact that he also had children, one of them being her good friend and teammate… She just didn't want to think about it.

After the long pause Sakura finally opened her mouth, collecting her own thoughts. Make no mistake, the sole fact that her daughter liked someone older than her didn't surprise her all that much — after all Sarada was an exceptionally smart girl, a lot more mature than Sakura herself was at her age. And yet she realized that if her daughter thought that the gap was relevant (otherwise she wouldn't have bothered to mention the gap), then the difference had to be more than just a couple years...

"Well… I suppose it's okay, isn't it? If it's just a few years… You know, perhaps you need to somehow drop a hint for him? Maybe spend more time with him, or some extra missions together — they really make people grow closer, you know?" She smiled reassuringly as Sarada looked away, biting her lip and frowning. "Maybe I could help you with that? I could ask Hokage-sama to arrange that, you know!"

Sarada flinched at the mention of the Seventh, but Sakura didn't pay any attention to that, unlike to how her daughter's face suddenly became more gloomy. As a matter of fact, everything her mother had just told her made the girl even more frustrated and wanting to slam her head into the nearest wall a couple times. Especially when she said 'just a few years' — Sarada didn't know if she was supposed to cry or to laugh at that.

He could've been her father, yet she had fallen for him. Gosh, I'm such an idiot…

But the worst thing about it wasn't even that. It was what Sakura said about the missions and talking about it to Naruto himself. The younger Uchiha couldn't hold back a smirk as she realized the irony, instantly imagining her mother coming to Hokage and saying something like 'Eh, Naruto, you see… Basically, could you please complete a couple missions with my daughter so that she can seduce you meanwhile?' It was so hilarious that Sarada would have laughed aloud hysterically had Sakura not been there right in front of her.

To Sakura's surprise, she noticed that the girl's expression was getting more and more grim with every other word she said. Naturally, when Sarada finally interrupted her and said that she'd handle it all by herself, the woman got really scared. But, knowing how stubborn the girl could be, she decided not to push and walked out of her room.

Up until this day, the medic nin had always thought that her daughter would eventually find her love interest in the young prodigy Sasuke was teaching and who also was her teammate and close friend — Uzumaki Boruto. But now… All that remained to Sakura was to sit in the kitchen of their house in complete solitude, reflecting on their lives. The anxiety left by the unexpected confession of Sarada just didn't let her go. The woman then thought somewhat apathetically that now she would always subconsciously suspect every single man she would see her daughter talking to… Life just didn't want to go easier on the Uchiha matriarch.

She sighed, grabbing her temples and groaning quietly.

Meanwhile Sarada slowly got up from her desk, came close to the huge mirror and looked at her reflection in it, eyeing herself up and down.

She was rather tall, at least a couple inches taller than her mother; and she was quite skinny, but curvy at the same time. Of course, she couldn't say that her figure was as nice as that of Hyūga Hinata, but her chest was already bigger than that of her own mother which made her feel slightly proud… Her raven hair that reached a bit below her waist was slightly unruly which only made her look better, or at least so she reckoned. It added something wild to her usually very neat image...

The girl bit her lip. It wasn't normal, she realized. She was a young and beautiful kunoichi, and she was supposed to find someone young and handsome who would be worthy of her. Still, unfortunately, none of her peers really attracted the young Uchiha. Mitsuki was just too weird, Shikadai was too lazy and boring, Inojin was way too pale, and Boruto… It was too complicated to explain. She could admit that she somewhat liked him - after all, he looked like a young copy of the Seventh. Yet at the same time, he was just too much like her own father, Uchiha Sasuke, and it made things about him… complicated. She was sure that had Boruto not become his student, things could've been different. But now… Looking at how unhappy her mother was, she couldn't even imagine herself being together with someone like that. Besides, Boruto wasn't interested in her at all — it was hard to tell what this boy was up to on a global scale, but knowing him, somehow she was sure that getting a girlfriend wasn't among his interests right now. She could only be guessing how was he dealing with his raging hormones…

Sarada winced. No, actually, she preferred not to think about it.

And then there was Lord Seventh… Naruto. He had always been special to Sarada; for as long as she could remember herself, he had always been there for her, eternally warm and cheerful like a shining sun, supporting her at everything she tried to do, always understanding her without words… Besides, in Sarada's opinion, he was a prime example of manhood. And although her cheeks reddened shamefully even when she even thought about it now, without anybody around, she truly wanted to be with him… She wanted him so much, but she knew that it was absolutely impossible…

Feeling the betraying wet coming to the corners of her eyes, she took off the glasses and rubbed her face. No, Sarada wasn't crying. It was just an eyesore, of course.

-~X~-

Naruto was eyeing another stack of papers on the desk in the corner of the room critically, his deep blue eyes lacking their usual happy and careless shine everyone in the village adored so much. The tremendous amount of work made him feel awfully exhausted of late, and also this strange pain in his chest was slightly bothering him… The pills Sakura had given him didn't help, only slightly diminishing the feeling itself but not fixing his condition at all. Every day now did he feel himself constantly being on the thin border between the real world and a dream, which totally didn't help him focus on his responsibilities either.

Kurama was furious because of his inability to cure his jinchūriki; he roared, demanded, and asked the Uzumaki to go to a hospital or at least to a medic nin, but Naruto only brushed the fox away dismissively, pointing out that he had already received the necessary medicine and that he would manage to hold out until Shizune's return… maybe.

That's how they lived for long weeks, or maybe months — he couldn't remember because of how gray and uninteresting his days were. And tonight he felt especially bad which was really unfortunate - it was the first time this week that he had managed to go home for the night, but as soon as he entered his room he just fell on the floor and leaned against the wall, unable to get up.

Of course, Hinata instantly became very worried, fussing and running around him in an attempt to help her husband somehow, but in reality only causing him to get irritated as she didn't give him the necessary rest and the silence he needed to overcome the pain on his own.

"Naruto-kun, how are you feeling now?" squeaked the dark blue haired woman, coming close to him and patting his forehead. At first it seemed like there was nothing but compassion and genuine care on her face; however, Naruto had known her far too well. He could see something deep in her eyes… Something that made him feel even more uneasy. Yet at the same time, he knew that she wouldn't tell him if something was wrong, especially now that he was such a mess. That's why he just kept a forced smile on his face, pretending that he didn't notice anything and that he was alright and didn't need her help.

Except, of course, his wife didn't need his permission to be there to help him as usual. She carefully sat on the couch next to the man, putting her palm on his chest softly and looking at him silently.

"It's okay, Hinata, I'm perfectly fine. Just tired," he lied, gently putting her hand away and realizing that he probably didn't sound very convincing.

He had changed too much of late, he had distanced himself from his family too much also… Too much to just accept her usual selflessness, which is why Hinata simply activated her Byakugan… and gasped, covering her mouth with her palms in a silent scream. The sight was especially dreadful to her, because she had already seen it years before, back during the Great War when Naruto was dying. His heartbeat was slowing down, slowly but inevitably, and now… She could see a similar thing slowly happening to him, which made the long forgotten fear crave into her own chest once again.

"Naruto-kun…," she whispered, making the blond wince a tad. They had been together for so long, and she still added the suffix to his name…

"Don't. I'm okay, seriously," he repeated causally, smirking reassuringly. He almost felt the triumph of his small victory as he felt her backing off a little bit, but then he noticed the activated dojutsu in her white eyes, and his glee instantly vanished, followed by a quiet sneer of Kurama.

Way to go, Naruto. Can't even feel a Hyūga activating her eyes anymore… You're so pitiful. Thirty six years old, and already a dying rusty piece of shit. What a shame!

Shut up…! he replied to the beast, rapidly trying to come up with an excuse for his lie, yet cursing himself because, as per usual in such situations, he had no idea what to say.

"Naruto-kun," she pushed, sounding more firm now, putting her hand on his chest once again before deactivating the Byakugan. "I love you, and I can't keep watching you suffer so much. A doctor. You need a medic… Sakura-san is the only one who can give you the necessary help!"

"I know," he replied monotonously, taking her hand off himself again before suddenly grasping it tightly and pulling the woman toward himself.

Totally not having expected that, she fell into his embrace and froze. Her usually pale cheeks were now a little pink, and Hinata looked into the eyes of her husband with long forgotten, almost pleading hope, yet seeing nothing but apathy and some strange aloofness.

A push. She got up, giving Naruto a scared glance as he kept staring blankly into the space in front of himself without any sign of even noticing her presence anymore. She activated her dojutsu once more — his heartbeat had somewhat restored, so she rushed out of the room, having made sure that he was more less fine. Right now she absolutely didn't want to be near this man who had once been her beloved Naruto-kun. She needed to reconsider too many things… In order to accept the changes in him.

And the shinobi himself remained on the floor until the entrance door of the house closed with a loud thud, announcing that the house was now empty. Although if not for this last sound of a goodbye, he probably would have remained lying there, aimlessly staring at the ceiling.

"Damn it," the tired husky whisper came off his lips as the man slowly got up. Something in his chest was now hurting even more than before, so Naruto decided to pay Sakura a late evening visit after all. No matter how much would he persist, the man was smart enough to realize that at this rate he wouldn't even be able to protect himself, let alone his family and the village. Of course, he could have waited for the first and oldest student of Tsunade, but the Uzumaki was afraid that he would simply not last long enough for her to return to the village with all this overwhelming amount of work and stress. That's why he tried his best to collect the last remains of his willpower, he put his orange jacket on and walked out the empty house, slowly walking towards the Uchiha district.

He forced himself to walk normally, to smile to everyone he encountered, to greet those whose names he didn't even know. Since the times of the war the population of the village itself had increased tenfold, let alone the city above in the mountains. That's why only when he walked through the gates of the still disturbingly empty district was he able to finally let out a sigh of relief, the cheerful expression instantly disappearing.

He knocked on the door of the familiar comfy house, patiently waiting. As usual, Sakura was rather quick to come — the door opened, revealing the rather concerned, almost worried face of his old teammate.

"Hokage-sama…? How may I help you? Has something serious happened?" she asked quickly, her eyes widening in fear, yet her body radiating the security the man himself lacked so much nowadays — his friend was ready to jump into combat right away, without even changing from the light blue dress she was wearing.

Just like the old times… He didn't have any energy to smirk at the thought.

"No need for formalities… Everything's fine, don't worry, Sakura-chan. May I enter, please?"

"S-Sure," she frowned, making a welcoming gesture.

He closed the door behind his back, noticing the woman putting her pointer to her lips and nodding in the direction of the kitchen.

"Sarada is already asleep. Please, be quiet."

"Ah… of course." He smiled, following her and trying not to make any noises.

They sat at the table then, and Naruto winced as another spike of pain in chest almost made him gasp.

"Naruto? What's wrong?" she asked in a very straightforward, almost demanding tone, which made him smile genuinely for the first time in days. At least she never changed, being a constant reminder of how things had once been…

"It's hurting… The pills you gave me don't really help. Could you please do something about it?" he mumbled, frowning and not meeting her troubled gaze.

The woman sighed, shaking her head.

"You idiot…," she came close, sitting right next to him before quickly unbuttoning his jacket and shirt, lightly touching his chest right above the heart. "I told you to rest more, didn't I? Naturally, the pills wouldn't work if you don't even give yourself a break for weeks." Her hand shined with jade chakra, and the next moment the blond already started feeling better.

"I can't really help it, you know… I have a lot of responsibilities in the village," he said simply, smiling at her with appreciation clearly written on his face.

The woman shook her head and bit her lip.

"This village will become your doom… You're killing yourself, and you know it."

"I can't help it," he repeated, looking away. The warm smile vanished as though it had never been there in the first place. "It's not like I have anything else to do."

"What?" Sakura frowned, taking her hand off him as she had finished her jutsu. "What do you mean you have nothing else? What about your family? Your kids?"

"They've grown up. It's not like they need me all that much," he shrugged indefinitely, still refusing to look at anything but some random magazine on the desk.

"Now that is bullshit! Stop saying things like that unless you want me to knock some sense into you!" He sighed, shaking his head briefly, "Of course they need you! Himawari is only thirteen, she's not even a chunin yet!"

"Yeah… I guess you're right," he muttered quietly, not even trying to sound interested and obviously agreeing with her just to stop the argument.

His former teammate sighed as well, pursing her lips.

"What's going on with you, Naruto? Please, tell me…"

He closed his eyes and squeezed out a weak smile.

"It's nothing, really. I'm just a really, really tired man. Don't worry, I'll be fine as always."

Her features softened a bit as she caressed his hand, to which he grabbed her palm and clutched it slightly.

"Promise?" She asked, smiling at him.

"Promise!" He winked at her, letting go of her hand and leaning back on the stool. "What about you, though?" he suddenly asked.

"Huh? Me? What about me?" she stared at him in confusion.

"Well, I can sense that you're unusually anxious tonight. What's up? Something about Sasuke?" he suggested.

"Uh… No, it's not about him at all…," she bit her lip, looking away. "It's actually about Sarada."

"Sarada-chan?" He blinked. As far as he was concerned, his student and, he hoped, his future successor was more than fine lately. "What about her?"

Sakura groaned, crossing her hands on her chest and rolling her eyes.

"She told me earlier today that she likes some guy."

Naruto's brow raised up a bit as he chuckled.

"So? Don't tell me you didn't see that coming one day. They grow up quickly, you know."

"Oh, yes, thank you, smartass! Of course I know that, and it's perfectly fine for her to have a love interest at her age. It's just that…," she stopped, frowning even deeper now, as though unsure how to put her thoughts right.

"It's just what?" he asked, sounding really puzzled and curious. He knew that Sakura was a bit overprotective as a mother, but there definitely was something unusual behind her concern right now.

"She—well, she told me that her crush is older than her."

There was a pause as Naruto stared at her, blinking and not grasping what exactly she was trying to say.

"Eh… So? Many girls prefer slightly older guys, it's normal, isn't it?"

She gave him a deadpan glance.

"If it was just someone slightly older, she wouldn't have been so thrilled when she told me about it, and I doubt she would even tell me in the first place."

"Oh." He blinked again, scratching his chin. Now it made sense for Sakura to be so worried… Sarada was an exceptionally smart girl and, much like her father, she was quite secretive whenever something personal was concerned, never trusting intimate things to anyone but him, her master, and maybe her teammates too. "I guess that could be a problem…"

"I know, right? I honestly don't know what to do now because she refuses to tell me anything more..." Sakura sighed in frustration, remaining silent.

"Well… I could watch out for her, if you want," he smiled at his friend, to which she looked at him in surprise.

"Really…? Aren't you too busy for that?"

"I kinda am… But then again, she's my student, and she spends a lot of time in my office. I can try to find something out, and besides, I can just throw more work at her so that she doesn't have any time to waste on dubious old creeps."

"Naruto!" He catched the soft pillow she threw at him, smirking. "This isn't funny at all!" she hissed, not raising her tone up as she was afraid to wake her daughter up.

"I know, I know. Sorry, Sakura-chan. Still, my offer stands."

She licked her lips, hemming and looking away.

"Well… Only if it's not a very big burden. I don't want you to have even more things to worry about."

He smiled at her, patting the woman's shoulder.

"It's okay, don't worry. I'll make sure that nobody touches Sarada-chan, and I'll try to find out who the unlucky guy is anyway."

"Unlucky?" She frowned. "Why is that?"

Naruto grinned.

"Because I wouldn't call whoever is about to face your wrath lucky, Sakura-chan."

She snorted, rolling her eyes but unable to hold back a smirk herself.

"Idiot…"

-~X~-

When she woke up in the morning, Sarada realized that she couldn't hold it all to herself any longer. Her feelings were tearing her apart from within, and she desperately needed to let it all out. But with whom could she share this dangerous secret? The Uchiha girl was afraid that even her best friend wouldn't understand her, not to mention that she could accidentally reveal it to someone else…

Sarada cringed at the idea, and her wild imagination instantly pictured people gossiping about it all across the village, her mother looking at her sadly and compassionately, and Hokage himself… She almost squeaked, covering her face. She was afraid to even imagine his possible reaction… He would definitely just laugh at her and then try to convince her that she was being foolish…! Or something even worse…

But then again, the Akimichi had never betrayed her trust before — they were best friends, after all. That's why the girl, having taken a quick shower and eaten her breakfast under the searching gaze of her mother, walked out of their house and stormed towards her friend's place. After all, even if Chōchō wouldn't understand her right, Sarada could just make her shut up. The Sharingan was a useful thing for sure…

She found the chubby dark skinned girl in no time, luckily, and waved at her quickly.

"Hey, Chō!"

The girl who was chewing potato chips, sitting on the bench near the fountain, mumbled a greeting in return, continuing to dealing with her food.

Not waiting for an invitation to sit down, Sarada lowered next to the girl, suddenly finding herself unable to utter a word. It was too dangerous to talk about her love interest here with so many people around, and Chōchō didn't seem to want to leave anytime soon. The Uchiha was about to explode out of impatience…! She just needed to talk about it to somebody - those disturbing dreams she had been having in the last couple weeks. Of course, there was nothing serious going on, yet the feeling of the Seventh's lips on her own… The grip of his strong and tanned arms on her thin waist, and the blue eyes full of desire… It all felt so real…

"Oy, Sarada, why are you so red?" asked Chōchō casually, not stopping to chew.

The sudden question made the black eyed girl snap out of her trance, and then, having realized what she had just heard, the Uchiha gripped her friend's forearm tightly and said in a frightening low voice:

"Chō, we need to talk. Alone." And then, without waiting for her to agree, she pulled Akimichi out of the square. Her house was supposed to be empty at the moment as Sakura had to already be at work right now, so her room was waiting for them and the upcoming serious conversation…

The girls didn't notice that Sakura was actually at home, taking a nap in her bedroom. However, realizing that her daughter obviously wanted some privacy, she collected all her willpower and decided not to try to overhear the girls when she heard the sound of Sarada's door locking.

Meanwhile Chōchō, who had been dragged to this place without any explanation, was beginning to feel worried, baffled by her friend's unusual behavior and wondering what on earth could have happened. She lowered on Sarada's bed, watching silently as the Uchiha kept walking back and forth, not daring to begin. But then after a minute or two Sarada finally stopped, looked at her friend who kept eating her chips and staring at her perplexedly.

"Chō, I—I'm in trouble. I've fallen in love." Of course, she didn't want to start the conversation like that, but what was done was done.

The pack of chips fell on the floor as the Akimichi's mouth opened by itself out of surprise, and then she smiled so brightly and happily that it almost made Sarada feel wary for a second.

"Who is this lovely guy?! Do I know him?!" There was so much joy and enthusiasm in her friend's voice that it made her wince.

Apparently, the other girl had completely overlooked the word 'trouble' in her sentence.

"You see, Chōchō, he… He's married, and has two kids!"

The oppressive silence fell upon the room. The Akimichi's light brown eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth was still open wide, yet, despite her reaction, Sarada decided to continue:

"I love… Naruto-sama—our Hokage…"

Silence. Grave silence… But then after some time Sarada finally dared to look at her friend, expecting to see condemn and to hear something scolding. After all, it was all so amoral…!

However, she received nothing of that. The only thing she could see in Chōchō's eyes was surprise and timid… delight?

As a matter of fact, the girl was completely shocked, of course. Sarada had finally fallen for someone! And on top of that, this someone was Lord Seventh! Just how courageous had her friend been to admit her feelings for someone like him?!

Sarada kept glancing at her silent friend nervously, feeling uneasy as she noticed the merry flames burning in her eyes more and more with each passing moment. The Uchiha already started regretting telling her about her problem when Chōchō asked:

"Sarada, how are you planning to conquer him? You've got a plan, haven't you?!"

Now she felt completely stunned. A plan? She couldn't even look at him nowadays, what kind of plan was her stupid friend talking about?! Damn it! Actually, she'd had an idea, but then she had quickly tossed it aside — it was far too primitive and there was no guarantee that it would work. Lord Seventh was far too powerful, he definitely wouldn't fall for some jutsu, seal or a potion, and there was no other way to make him see her in that way. At least, Sarada couldn't see a viable option.

"Oy, Uchiha! I'm talking to you and not to your table!" muttered the Akimichi, to which Sarada just sighed, lowering her head in defeat.

"No, I have no plan."

And there was silence again. Each of them was thinking about their own things, but if only the Uchiha girl knew what kind of thoughts filled Chōchō's head at the moment, she would definitely run away in embarrassment… Or maybe it was already too late.

"Sarada, do you see dreams about him? If so, then what kind of dreams? Could you describe him? Well, him from the dreams, you know…!"

As she kept asking her these embarrassing questions, Sarada's face was becoming more and more red. In the end instead of replying, the Uchiha pushed Chōchō out of the room and then pulled her to the kitchen. After all, the only thing that could make her friend shut up was food.

* * *

**Quick F.A.Q. for my old readers and subscribers!**

Q: Where have you been?! It's been almost 6 months!  
A: A lot of nasty things happened to me and to my family, I lost a few important people so I really couldn't force myself to write anything because of heavy depression and other stuff.

Q: Are you okay now?  
A: More yes than no, at least I feel good enough to try to return to writing!

Q: Why start a new story now?  
A: This story is a product of long late night conversations between me and my friends who really like this new Boruto anime. I gave it a chance myself, and although I didn't like it at all, I decided to make an alternative sequel that would be as close to canon as possible but, at the same time, I'd fix everything I personally dislike. Besides, it's an easy way for me to return to writing after such a long break.

Q: Who is your co-author?  
A: One of said friends, she helps me very much and we basically create this together.

Q: When are you going to update your old stories?  
A: As soon as I feel like I'm ready to return to them. It's not easy to do after so many months, and I need to get my writing skills back to a decent level because I love both of them too much to approach them now when I haven't written anything for so long.


	2. A Seed of Doubt

**Chapter 2. Seed of Doubt**

Unbelievable...! She was such an idiot!

Sarada was having a hard time not to groan angrily at her own sudden stupidity as she flopped down on the couch at the kitchen of their house, followed by Chōchō who, to her surprise, remained absolutely impassive as she saw the guests present in the small room, smiling at the two of them politely while Sakura was preparing tea and some sweets, turned away from the rest.

How...? How could she have been this dumb and careless?! What if they had heard something she had told her friend about her feelings…? That would be a complete disaster!

She flinched, noticing Hinata peering at her searchingly.

"Uh… Uzumaki-sama, did you say something? I'm sorry, I guess I spaced out for a moment," she giggled nervously, looking at the unusually concerned face of Naruto's wife. These white eyes of hers always seemed so full of some strange wisdom… Sometimes it made the young kunoichi wonder if this was just her own impression, or perhaps this woman was truly not as simple minded and naive as she pretended to be.

Despite her dismay and nervousness, however, Sarada realized that the Seventh's wife wasn't looking well. There were clearly visible dark bags under her eyes, making the usually invisible tiniest wrinkles around her eyelids quite notable; she was now also far too pale even for an aristocratic Hyūga offspring, and her regularly cheerful and kind expression was gone, replaced with a rather sorrowful one. All this in the aggregate was so odd, on the brink of being disturbing...

Sarada suppressed a slight shudder. What…? No, it can't be that she's actually heard something..., her heart skipped a beat but, to her surprise, the woman only smiled at her, lowering her eyes sheepishly the next moment.

"It's alright… It's quite alright, don't worry. I—I merely meant to ask you—since you work with Naruto-kun, and spend a lot of time with him, after all… M-Maybe you happen to know…," she frowned, pursing her lips thoughtfully for a second, clearly picking words carefully, "What makes him so… tired lately?"

The young Uchiha blinked a few times, slowly letting out a sigh of relief. Maybe Hinata hadn't heard anything, after all… Still, the situation was far too perilous for her to feel comfortable; it was just too unlike her to allow things to come to such a dangerous state.

She then moved her gaze at Himawari who smiled back before glancing at her mother and then lowering her eyes sadly. Of course, her father's condition had to bother the girl quite a lot, too… Although she had failed, already for the second time, to achieve the rank of chūnin last year (to be fair, the reason to that was mostly her teammates not being good enough - the girl herself was splendid in Sarada's opinion), and despite her fourteenth birthday being just a couple weeks away from now, she still remained the soft and naive girl all of them had always known. It was adorable yet, at the same time, it made the Uchiha feel bad for Boruto's sister.

She didn't deserve to be a part of this mess...

"Uh… To be honest, Uzumaki-sama…" Sarada somehow managed to remain more less calm as she glanced warily at Sakura who didn't react to the question herself, still turned away from them and chopping something with a knife. If her mother would somehow react to her lie… "As far as I'm aware, Hokage-sama is very busy in preparations for the upcoming Gokage summit… Beside that, the third ANBU department… They're causing problems of late, too. Eh-excuse me, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to reveal any details on this matter, it's restricted for anyone below jōnin rank…" She shrugged apologetically, once again glancing at Sakura who finally came close to them, putting a few plates with various sweets and dishes on the table.

"Yes, it's true, Hinata," the pink haired medic nodded without looking at Sarada, confusing the girl even more, for the thing she had just told the Uzumaki was purely a fruit of her own imagination, so her mother couldn't possibly have known about it. She was actually playing along! But why...? "He told me that secret services of Konoha are in trouble these days, though I never cared enough to ask him to elaborate, but he seemed to be quite worried about it the last time we talked."

Hinata lowered her head, nodding slowly and uttering:

"Well… I s-suppose that makes sense… It's just that he—his behavior… He has... changed," she almost whispered the last word, sounding… hurt?

Sarada frowned, looking thoughtfully at Himawari who was now caressing her mother's back with great compassion and understanding in her blue eyes.

"Changed, huh…?" muttered Sakura frowning as well, pouring the hot green tea into everyone's cups. "To be honest, I haven't noticed any changes in him aside from strong fatigue and little signs of depression. Maybe it's just a middle age crisis?" she smirked reassuringly, although something in the jade eyes told Sarada that her mother wasn't completely genuine right now.

Looks like I'm not the only one who has something to hide, huh…? She squinted at Sakura thoughtfully. Of course, her parents were the best friends of the Seventh, everyone knew that. She ought to know some things even Naruto's wife didn't know. The question was, what exactly was she hiding from Hinata?

Had she not known better, Sarada would have instantly assumed that her mother and Naruto were an item. No… This is actually stupid jealousy and nothing else, she corrected herself and clenched her fists under the table. And this realization made her feel even worse than before. What right had she had to feel jealous when it came to the Hokage…?

"What if he has a lover?"

The sudden question came out of the blue, instantly muting the kitchen. Everyone there froze, staring at Chōchō who was chewing a chocolate donut, not seeming to pay any attention to their reactions whatsoever.

"A lover?" repeated Hinata quietly, which almost sounded like a whimper.

"Well, he's a man, isn't he? He's rich, powerful and very, very handsome. With all due respect, Hinata-san, do you know how popular your husband really is worldwide?" The dark skinned girl shrugged at the woman, raising her eyebrow slightly as though she was trying to explain something absolutely obvious to some child.

"Chōchō-chan, what are you saying?!" Sakura suddenly yelped, giving Hinata, who now looked like she was about to start crying, a scared glance. "Naruto is not like that, he would never...! He—!"

"Do not worry. I really doubt that is the case, Uzumaki-sama," suddenly deadpanned Sarada, silently blessing her talent of becoming completely cold and emotionless in stressful situations — something, she reckoned, she had inherited from her father, "As you said yourself, I do spend a lot of time around Hokage-sama, and I would know it for sure if he had a secret like that. Naturally, I would tell you about it as soon as possible, for I despise cheaters," she almost spit the last line, remembering how Boruto had tried to cheat during their first chūnin exam.

Surprisingly, it worked as intended — Hinata's features softened, and her eyes were now filled with timid hope… And yet, having now realized how deep the problem in their family actually was, the onyx eyed girl wasn't sure if this hope wasn't false, though.

"Oh… I—I see.. Thank you very much, Sarada-chan," said the woman smiling at her warmly to which the raven haired Uchiha was unable not to smile back even though she truly wanted to. "I hope Boruto hasn't cheated since that time, has he?"

Sarada frowned a little bit, gulping nervously. This woman… She wasn't naive at all; on the contrary, she was reading her quite deftly… She needed to be much more careful around her from now on!

"Not as far as I know," she smiled politely, looking away. "It's not about him at all, though."

Hinata and Himawari giggled, this followed by an unsure smirk of Sakura a split second later; unlike the Uchiha matriarch, they didn't know that Sarada didn't like Boruto in that way at all…

"Of course, of course. Uh, Sakura-san," Hinata then looked at her friend, bowing her head slightly and putting her hands together in front of her in a pleading manner, "You see, I—I also wanted to ask you… There is also something s-seriously wrong with Naruto-kun's health, I'm afraid... So, if it wouldn't b-bother you too much… Could you possibly pay him a visit and check h-his condition? He doesn't tell us anything, b-but I think he truly needs your help…"

Sakura's reaction this time was even more astonishing than everything she'd done until now — her eyes widened in surprise, or perhaps even in shock; her mouth opened and then closed, as though she was unsure what to say, and only then did the woman frown like she always did whenever she was brainstorming something. It all happened in a matter of a couple seconds, but Sarada had always been apt to studying people's reactions to various things; for some reason, this seemingly normal request downright shocked her mother.

But, why…? It made absolutely no sense. Unless Sakura knew something nobody else in the room knew...

"Eh… Sure, I guess, I'll pay you guys a visit tonight, but… What's exactly wrong with him, if you could tell me?" she asked carefully, sipping the hot tea and not moving her eyes from Hinata's face.

The dark haired woman sighed, pursing her lips and not touching her own cup.

"I—well, this—it's about his heart, I believe… S-Something isn't quite right with it, I saw it with my Byakugan… And also, his vitals all in all—" She stopped, giving Sakura a hopeful questioning look, to which the woman slowly nodded.

"I see," she replied casually after a short pause, "I'll have to examine him carefully then, I suppose. What you mentioned there isn't something to approach lightly for sure."

A broad happy smile then appeared on Hinata's face, followed by a similar expression of her cheerful daughter.

"I'm so glad! Thank you so much, Sakura-san…! It's just that, I love him so much, and he… I suppose he doesn't want to make me worry, that's why he refuses to tell me what bothers him so much…," she mumbled, though not sounding very convincing, as though not even believing her own words.

All of sudden Sarada felt nauseous. She realized that both the older women were lying and saying half truths, to each other and to the their children… No, actually, Sarada had done this herself, too. And it felt absolutely disgusting to her; it wasn't like any of them had done something criminal to be forced to hide it from the rest. Yet they were already deep in the net lies, and this hypocrite game of pretending to be polite for the sake of fooling friends…

She refused to be a part of it!

"I'm sorry, but I need to leave as soon as possible. I have to report to Hokage-sama regarding my most recent task, and we also need to discuss my training in preparations for ANBU enrollment, so kindly forgive me," she got up and bowed to everyone, not looking at Chōchō who gave her a surprised stare but, fortunately, said nothing.

"ANBU…?" mumbled Hinata, gazing at Sakura in surprise. "I—I didn't know Sarada-chan was joining…"

"Neither did I…," muttered Sakura to herself, and it was the last thing Sarada heard before she left the room.

She walked out into the lobby, quickly taking off her light pink wool jumper as well as the white skirt and then changing into her ninja attire: a sleeveless bloody-red, cropped top that revealed her toned flat stomach, as well as tight black pants — the headband with the forehead protector rested on the low waist as she used it as a belt; fingerless gloves with steel plates on them, and sandals with heels that were slightly higher than normal.

Fixing her slightly wild long black hair and putting her glasses on, she opened the door and walked outside, breathing in some fresh air. To her relief, she instantly felt better - turned out that she merely needed some time.

And afterwards… Perhaps she would really pay a visit to the Seventh. After all she needed to see it first hand if something was truly that wrong with him, or maybe his wife was just overreacting as she always was inclined to...

**-~X~-**

"Neither did I…," muttered Sakura to herself, "Chōchō-chan, do you know anything about that, by any chance?"

"Nope," the girl shrugged, sipping her own tea slowly. "I doubt it's true, though. Last thing I heard about her career intentions was becoming Hokage-sama's apprentice, and eventually succeeding him."

Following Sarada's back with her eyes, Hinata suddenly felt uneasy. The girl's reaction to her last sentence about her relationship with her husband… There was something off with that, but the woman wasn't sure what exactly was that.

"Apprentice…?" she muttered. Or possibly… something more? she thought, analyzing the girl's unusually aggressive reaction to her words.

No! What on earth am I even thinking…? Am I going insane?! She closed her eyes and shook her head, forcing the horrible idea to disappear.

"Well, yeah. She wants to become Seventh's successor, remember? Naturally she wants him to teach her to do the job," she grinned for some reason, and it made Hinata feel even more uneasy even though she couldn't rationally explain why.

"Oh... I see. Well… sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you f-for your time," she said then, getting up and slightly bowing to Sakura, eventually following Sarada out the door with Himawari quickly following beside her, unable to hide the clear sadness and disappointment in her expression.

As Hinata noticed Sakura's daughter walking out the room, having already changed into her combat outfit for whatever reason, she silently gasped as the Uchiha suddenly disappeared from sight in a blink of an eye. To a normal civilian, they would describe it as some sort of teleportation, however a ninja, especially a Hyūga, would always be able to recognize it as none other than Shunshin, a body flicker technique. And she was pretty fast at that...

The ANBU training is that important, huh? Hinata thought as they walked home through the crowded streets of Konoha, wondering why she had never been told of this before. And also, what Chōchō had said about Sarada's intention to become the next Hokage... These two stories didn't quite match; a candidate for Hokage didn't need to join ANBU beforehand at all, especially someone of Sarada's skill and experience — the girl was already quite famous around Land of Fire, with common talk even calling her 'Crimson Fury'.

Hinata sighed and frowned at the depressing thoughts, not noticing the careful looks her daughter was giving her from the side. The woman was well aware that her obvious gloominess contrasted with her loud and lively surroundings quite a lot, but she just couldn't help it. She glanced over at Himawari who was already only a couple inches shorter than Hinata herself, and smiled at the young Uzumaki who instantly looked back, mirroring her mother's smile.

She really hated allowing Himawari to see her like this. Despite the girl being only thirteen, the exhausted older Hyūga was sure the kunoichi was already old enough to understand without words that things between her and Naruto were not as perfect as they would like for others to believe.

Still, that never stopped Hinata from trying to pretend that it actually was alright, especially in front of her children. Truthfully, with each passing day of their marriage, the unavoidable frustration slowly yet incessantly increased everyday, and it already seemed to her like it was never going to stop. The constant half-truths and masks of pretentious happiness… Deep inside, despite being possibly the most patient and understanding woman in the world, Hinata was just so sick and tired of all this. She could tell even from a hundred miles away that Naruto wasn't happy with her at all... but why? Why?! Perhaps it was her fault after all? Was she not good enough for him — or worse, had he grown tired of her? The marriage with her first love was not as bright and happy as her younger self had always fantasized it to be… Not that it ever had, to be completely honest...

To put it bluntly, Hinata could agree to withstand a lot, but she simply couldn't accept always being kept in the dark like this. She was his wife for gods' sake! Yet, he still seemed to consider her unworthy of even knowing whatever was going on at his work. Top secret missions informations of which were only accessible to jōnin level and above...? That was his excuse? Just because she had never attained the rank? Even after everything they had been through in the past with the Akatsuki, Pain's invasion, and of course, the Fourth Great Ninja War, nowadays commonly referred to as simply the Great War... Naruto still didn't consider her good enough to know about whatever possibly life-threatening issues that were only knowledgeable to very strong ninjas? Or at least about his possible plans for retirement, speaking of Sarada...?

No matter how much she tried to convince herself that he did it all for the sake of her safety, the truth was becoming too blatant to keep ignoring it. Clearly he simply didn't trust her at all! And without trust… what was even a point in their marriage?!

Feeling tears forming in the corners of her eyes she immediately brushed the devastating thought away. She couldn't let the public, let alone her daughter see her cry. Rumours would very easily and quickly spread around the village, and it could ruin Naruto's reputation and thus cause Hinata to be even more of a burden to him than, the former kunoichi assumed, she already was.

But that actually wasn't what bothered Hinata the most, no... as if her previous concerns weren't already bad enough, though. And yet, what truly disturbed her was what the young Akimichi girl had suggested a few minutes ago. At first, it was so absurd that deep inside Hinata wanted, for a very brief moment, to slap the silly girl for such a ridiculous and boorish idea. After all, one had to be a fool to decide to cheat on his wife who just so happens to possess Byakugan, and Naruto was not an idiot… was he?

She narrowed her eyes and paled, staring at the road under her feet. It was foolish, and yet… this crazy suggestion, somehow it made sense...

Truth to be told, at this point Hinata was already fully convinced that Naruto had never really loved her, or at least not nearly as much as she loved him. Otherwise, why would he have to always fake his happiness around her? Why would he lie to her? Neglect her? And most importantly…

Everyone knew that her husband was a master of Shadow Clones. She had never dared ask him, but the question kept bothering her even up to now: why did he refuse to utilize them to do at least a part of his work at the office, and let his real body come home at least once in a while? There was absolutely no excuse to that, especially seeing as he sometimes hadn't come home in weeks, no less...

Hinata winced, instantly remembering the incident taking place on Himawari's ninth birthday, in which Naruto had used a shadow clone to attend the party, and it ended up disappearing unexpectedly and ruining the cake. Naturally, the real one remained to do all the paperwork away from their home...

Perhaps that was the first breakpoint for them, the woman now thought; it just never made sense to her no matter how much she tried to find an excuse for Naruto. Why, just why wouldn't he use a clone to attend his own beloved (and when it came to his feelings for her, Hinata had absolutely no doubt) daughter's birthday party as opposed to the other way around? But now, all the pieces to her deliberate neverending puzzle seemed to finally be forming a picture. How could she not have thought of this before? How could she have been so blind...?

He didn't love her anymore, it was safe to take it as a fact. And yet as a healthy man who was still quite young and in a great shape, he definitely had his needs. Therefore Chōchō was most likely correct, as much as Hinata hated to admit it — Naruto probably indeed had a secret lover.

But who…? Who could it possibly be? Who was the one receiving Naruto's love and attention instead of his wife and children who genuinely deserved it the most? Hinata slightly blushed in embarrassment as she remembered her previous suspicion of Sarada, which had made her and Himawari leave Sakura's house earlier than they had wanted from the outset, in a reflective attempt to follow the girl. She was only seventeen for gods' sake, and Naruto was almost twenty years older than her! How desperate had Hinata become to suspect a minor, and a trusted one at that, to be her husband's possible secret love interest...? This was absolutely impossible, she now realized with relief.

But if it wasn't Sarada... then again, who?

Hinata scanned her memory for every female that used to come in contact with her husband. Tenten? As far as she was concerned, Neji's former teammate was too busy managing her armory and weapon shop to even bother with such affairs. Besides, she was happily married to Rock Lee...

Ino? That wasn't impossible, but somehow it seemed unrealistic. Yamanaka Ino was a stay-at-home mother much like Hinata herself, and had a beloved husband and son. She would most likely not have any time to flirt around with the Hokage, at least without anyone noticing it — after all this woman, despite being quite elegant and graceful, had never been known for being stealthy or two faced. And besides, they had never been interested in each other to begin with despite always having many opportunities to interact...

Then and only then did the belated realization hit Hinata like a train, causing her face to instantly pale again, resembling clean paper now. Could it… could it possibly be the blonde's best friend and the young Uchiha's mother?

Could it be Uchiha Sakura…?

It was well-known that Naruto had been in love with her as a child, but thankfully for Hinata, Sakura never returned those feelings for him…. Or did she?

Everyone knew that Sakura had always loved her husband Sasuke and nobody else, but did Sasuke himself even love Sakura in the first place? That question had always been there silently, although Hinata had never dared to ask it even to Naruto. Sure the two of them had a child together, but so did Naruto and Hinata themselves, and yet the jinchūriki's love for her was also very questionable at this point… to say the least. And when was the last time she saw Sasuke and Sakura together anyway? It appeared that the medic kunoichi was just as neglected by Sasuke as Hinata was by Naruto…

And now that she thought about it, when she asked her pink haired friend to check Naruto's health, her reaction was quite peculiar...

Of course, that only proved Hinata's suspicions even more. Considering that Sakura probably wasn't as loyal and definitely wasn't nearly as patient as she was herself, Sasuke's constant neglection could have very easily caused his wife to eventually lose her feelings for him after all these years, and focus on the person who had loved her ever since they were children — Uzumaki Naruto! And besides, it wasn't impossible that his feelings for Sakura had never faded after all, no matter how desperately Hinata had tried to convince herself that they were long gone.

She gritted her teeth; her lips trembled as she suppressed another wave of tears. Then again, it was absolutely ridiculous! Hinata had always thought that she and Sakura were friends. In fact, the Uchiha was the one who had encouraged Hinata to confess her love to Naruto in the first place! Besides, knowing her, it was safe to say that Sakura would never do such a thing to a married man with two children, let alone to cheat on her own husband, and to lie to her child who was clearly oblivious… or was she?

Hinata frowned even deeper now. Sarada's odd reaction to their conversation… The girl was clearly very displeased by something either of them had told. Or done. But...

She then shook her head, trying to calm down.

Perhaps she was overthinking things? Yes, that had to be it. Of course, it definitely could not be Sakura… What a foolish idea.

"Hinata!"

The sudden call ripped her out of the intoxicating thoughts, to her relief. The Uzumaki quickly pulled her eyes away from the ground ahead of her and focused on finding the source of the familiar voice calling out her name.

She immediately noticed him, right ahead of herself and Himawari. Her old team member and her best friend, now a teacher at Konoha's Ninja Academy, Aburame Shino. He had been Boruto's sensei for years, and was coincidentally teaching Himawari now as well.

"Hi, Aburame-sensei!" Himawari joyfully shouted out, waving out to him.

"Hey, Himawari, how are you doing?" he responded, walking a bit toward them until coming face to face with the Uzumaki family.

"I'm good, thank you! Mommy and I were just heading home."

"Ah, I see," he quietly said before immediately turning to face Hinata with a look of concern on his face.

The older Uzumaki instantly noticed his reaction as he met her gaze. She quickly pulled two hundred ryō from her purse, handing the money to Himawari who immediately lightened up at the sight of the opportunities presented in the shape of paper. It was quite ironic; most people would have never thought that the daughter of someone as rich and powerful as Hokage would be excited over such a little amount of money, but Hinata had always purposely tried to raise her children better than being some spoiled brats, contrary to what other people might have thought about their family. Boruto and especially Himawari were raised to believe that money was something that required to be earned through hard work and dedication, and that it wasn't just something they would have access to whenever they wanted. Hinata had always dreaded rich and greedy snobs, after all. That's why she was more than happy to have left her clan long ago...

"Himawari, why don't you go buy yourself an ice cream? And maybe some toy from the booth over there…," she offered.

The young kunoichi didn't hesitate to grab the money, and then proceed to cheerfully shout: "Thank you, mother! See ya, Aburame-sensei!" as she excitedly ran off. She didn't head to the store her mother had pointed at previously, though Hinata never noticed that, too preoccupied with her thought and the upcoming conversation with Shino.

The former Hyūga lowered her eyes, staring at the ground blankly for a while and trying her best to avoid eye contact with the Aburame, in hopes of him not noticing how terrible she looked. There were a few seconds of oppressive silence between the two of them until it was finally broken by Shino's slightly trembling, deeply concerned voice,

"What's wrong, Hinata? I could feel your depressive aura from a mile away. Is it about Naruto?"

She winced at the mention of her husband. Of course, always leave it to her old teammate to be able to read her like an open book. Hinata hesitantly opened her mouth and quietly muttered, "Y-Yeah…."

Her eyes widened as she immediately realized that they were, in fact, in a public place, which unfortunately meant possible eavesdroppers. She quickly grabbed Shino's olive coloured sleeve, ignoring his baffled expression, and dragged him behind her, heading towards a seemingly empty alleyway. Before answering the confused man's questions, she cautiously glanced behind her, making sure that Himawari was still in sight — the girl was now studying books in the nearest store just about thirty yards away from them. She was already happily licking her pink, presumably strawberry flavoured ice cream, clearly not caring about the two of them at all, so Hinata quickly looked back at Shino, meeting his worried, almost scared eyes (which was notable even in spite of them being hidden behind his dark polarised glasses) with her tired and grim ones.

"This... I-I'm afraid it's all too p-personal. I brought you here because I-I don't really want other people t-to hear what I'm about to s-say…" Hinata haltingly explained, suppressing the upcoming sob.

After a few more long seconds of Shino patiently waiting for her to continue explaining her problem, which he assumed to be about her relationship with Naruto after all, considering her reaction to his question, Hinata finally opened her mouth to speak again,

"W-well, as you g-guessed correctly, it is about h-him…"

Hinata was beginning to question whether it was really a good idea to tell Shino about her… about their issues. Although she did trust this man with her life, would telling him that her 'perfect' family was actually a big fat deception be such a good idea? How would he react to that? Would it ruin his image of them…?

But yet again, Hinata had already accepted the fact that her marriage was getting worse and worse with each passing day, and eventually it would clearly become too much to hide. She would rather him find out from her words than through countless rumours, gossip and stupid tabloid articles.

She then frowned slightly, finally taking a deep breath as she slowly began, "I-I don't think Naruto l-loves me a-anymore, Shino-kun."

And just as she had expected, Shino's concerned expression immediately transitioned into a shocked one with a slightly dropped jaw.

"Hinata… What on earth are you saying? What do you mean Naruto doesn't love you anymore? Of course he does!" he said a bit louder than she would prefer, which made the woman look around in fear before replying quietly,

"I-It's true, Shino-kun…" She felt tears slowly dripping down her cheeks as she couldn't withstand the stress any longer. "F-For a long time, I-I refused t-to believe it at first, b-but now I c-can't deny it a-anymore… a-all the lies, his n-neglection, i-isolation, a-and secrets… All of it m-makes sense now…" She forcefully and desperately tried to hold back a burst of tears, and managed to continue, "I d-don't even know what to do anymore! H-he won't tell me a—a thing. I c-can see that he's always tired and unhappy w-with me, b-but he wants me to believe he is. Why? Why does he keep lying?!" She closed her eyes and stomped on the ground in frustration and anger.

Unable to come up with a response as he was too shocked by this heartbreaking confession, Shino instead took the woman's shaking hands in his own reassuringly, rubbing her palms carefully to try to calm her down at least a little bit.

"Listen, Hinata, I don't really know what exactly has been going on in your home of late, but I know this one fact for sure: of course, Naruto does love you! He—"

"No!" She whimpered and then bit her lip, wincing and shaking her head. "S-Shino-kun, y-you-you don't understand... He keeps p-pushing me away e-everytime I t-try to help him. H-How could he p-possibly love me w-when he treats me this way?!" she finally bursted, closing her eyes again and lowering her head in defeat.

"Just calm down, Hinata! Please... just hear me out! From what you're telling me, the isolation, the fatigue I noticed myself, and loss of interest — those sound like classic signs of depression. This is textbook material, silly!"

Just as Hinata was about to respond, asking what on earth could Naruto possibly be depressed about aside from marrying someone he didn't even love, Shino added, "Have you tried asking his student to try and figure out the source of his depression?"

Hinata's reddened eyes slowly widened. His… student? Since when did Naruto have a student...? And why was she unaware of such an important fact? A personal student for a Hokage could only mean that he… he had chosen his successor...!

"Student...?" She repeated dumbly.

"Yes. I mean, Sarada-chan. I recall seeing Naruto teaching her his famous Rasengan a few weeks ago. Why do you seem so confused? Is he no longer mentoring her?"

Her face suddenly relaxed, and everything around suddenly became deaf to the woman.

So this was how it had to be... Was this the extent of his lies? Even going as far as to hiding the fact that he had a personal student now? This only made Hinata wonder furthermore what else he could possibly be hiding from her. Countless thoughts and questions consumed Hinata's mind the same second. But one that she kept coming back to was the simple question she just couldn't answer: why, why did he have to hide it from anyone? Especially from his own wife...?

No. Enough was enough. This was just too much. She had to talk to him openly, it was impossible to keep pretending that everything was fine anymore.

"Hinata, are you alright? You're spacing out," said Shino, interrupting Hinata's rabid storm of thoughts and assumptions.

"Y-Yes, Shino-kun… Everything is perfectly fine. I'm sorry, but I have to go…" She didn't stutter as she said it before walking away, swallowing her tears that begged to come out, and putting on the usual fake smile, not giving a chance for her ex-teammate to say anything in response.

She quietly walked over to Himawari, who was now putting a few heavy tomes into her backpack. Hinata wondered since when had her girl loved reading so much…? The woman couldn't really tell.

"Come on, Himawari. We have to go home now."

"Ow, already?" The kunoichi whined, picking up her bag and proceeding to put her hand in her mothers. "What did Shino-sensei want, mom?"

"Nothing special, sweetheart," she smiled, clenching the girl's tiny palm in her own. "Tell me, what did you buy over there?

**-~X~-**

Naruto's sleepy blue eyes were running through numerous papers again and again, one after another. He had long lost any track of time, but it didn't really matter — he had a lot more work to do tonight, so there was no reason to worry about anything else…

He was ashamed to admit it, but he had also completely lost any desire to go home after yesterday's conversation with Hinata. The man didn't really feel like unnecessarily annoying his wife again, especially seeing how uneasy she felt around him recently. Besides, the current political situation in the world totally didn't encourage him to spend an evening home cozily with a newspaper and tea. Every country that possessed a jinchūriki was now in the increased combat readiness state, and this time it was not for the sake of unity at all; if another Madara appeared right now, they would likely all be doomed…

"Damn it…," he cursed, tossing another stack of papers aside. All of this totally wasn't what he truly needed to do right now… He wanted to be in the frontline, to fight the evil threatening everyone he so wanted to protect. But, what could he possibly do when today's foes were yesterday's friends…?

As he kept reflecting on these painful thoughts, Naruto didn't notice as someone put his hand on his right shoulder reassuringly.

"Calm down." It sounded really cold, but the Seventh still felt the so necessary note of support, except it didn't make anything easier at all. Sasuke didn't know how to take care of his own child; he had no idea how it felt when his children, his family was targeted by the deadliest ninjas of their age…

"Calm down, huh?" He sounded a tad nervous, which was quite unlike him, but it didn't matter now that they were alone. That's why he, getting up and pushing the Uchiha's hand off himself, blurted out: "Calm down?! No, Sasuke. I won't calm down until I find every single bastard that wants to destroy my family's prosperity!"

"Prosperity?" He could feel his friend sarcastic grin without even turning around to face him. "Please. Your family has collapsed long ago, Naruto. You must accept the truth and move on until it's too late. Meet me at the hot springs in two hours, you need to relax for once. We'll discuss it there."

"Wait. Boruto… Is he safe?" asked the blond, still not turning around.

"Naturally, unlike your stupid head."

Thanks to his Rinnegan, he disappeared quietly without a trace, so the Uzumaki had no chance to throw something heavy at the raven haired man. His words had hurt him; Naruto just couldn't bring himself to admit that Sasuke was right. There was indeed not much left of his family... and was there anything at all, actually? Naruto didn't dare answer this question even to himself.

He lowered back into his chair and sighed tiredly, grabbing the nearest report paper and staring at it blindly, so deep in his thought that he didn't recognize a single word in front of him.

Was it a wise decision to have sent Boruto to a faraway country with Sasuke to train his boy and to hide and protect him from a possible threat? Was it a good idea to keep Hinata in the dark about all this in order to allow Himawari to keep living as a happy, careless child at least a little longer? Was Sarada truly ready to become his apprentice, even though it was more out of necessity right now for the sake of the girl's safety…?

Seventh didn't know the correct answers to these questions, if they even existed to begin with. He just kept doing what he thought was necessary and right, leaving all the doubts behind as usual. After all, he couldn't afford to be selfish; he had too much to protect and to take care for, and his own life and well-being were of no importance in comparison to his family, his friends and his village.

He put the paper back on the smooth surface of the table, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes. Sasuke probably was right, he truly needed a break. But the truth was that he just couldn't relax when there was so much he needed to handle, and to do it as soon as possible. Then again, would he be able to do any of it if he suddenly died to a heart attack due to fatigue and stress…?

Finally you're making some sense, fool. Drop all this shit for now, go and rest at least a little bit! I don't want us to get in a comatose state, and I'm sick of supporting you with my chakra! When was the last time you ate or slept, again?! The beast in his mind roared, making Naruto smile gratefully.

Thank you, Kurama… And sorry, I guess I really forgot to eat and to do other things.

I've always known you were a retard! Stop with all this self-devotion bullshit, or I swear I'll kill you and your useless brood by myself!

Naruto smirked. Of course, it was an empty threat, and they both knew it. The fox would never do that, and yet... he had a point.

Fine, fine… I guess one evening off wouldn't hurt that much…

A loud knock on the door interrupted the silent conversation. Naruto raised his head and frowned, glancing at the clock on the wall — he wasn't supposed to have any visitors this late, Shikamaru was supposed to already be at home for an hour or so…

"Enter," he said, leaning on the back of his chair and stretching his back.

The door opened, revealing the familiar face of his newfound apprentice who entered the room right away, closing the door behind her back and then coming to his table.

Much like Boruto, she sure had grown up fast; although Naruto didn't really pay attention to this, he realized that this wasn't the blundering little girl he remembered from the time when he, Sasuke and Sakura had rescued her from Shin. Now it was an attractive young woman who clearly had inherited both her parents' good sides when it came to her appearance, and who also already knew how to present herself. The way she moved as she approached him was gracious and smooth, and the nice sway of her hips was so natural and feminine that it made him wonder for a split second how could she remain so nimble and fast whenever they sparred...

Sarada was indeed very talented and gifted, even for an Uchiha. Perhaps that was why he didn't feel like she needed as much protection as the rest of the members of their families. At the same time he didn't realize that, as ironically as it was, she was actually the most protected out of them all as his protege and thus constantly being under his watch…

"Oh, Sarada-chan. What's up?" he asked casually, trying to sound more welcoming and cheerful than he had with her father. He totally didn't need another woman to be worried for him…

"Greetings, Hokage-sama. I've come to tell you something important about the latest task you gave me… And also something else," she added cryptically after a short pause, her face remaining neutral, yet her eyes clearly giving away the uneasiness she was feeling for some reason.

"The task…? Ah! You mean daimyo's ambassador! So how did it go? Was he satisfied with our village's hospitality?" He smirked, to which Sarada rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Oh yes, he sure was. Although I'd prefer not to deal with hookers the next time I have a similar assignment. Their bosses are not exactly the most pleasant people to interact with."

Naruto frowned at her, giving the girl a very serious look.

"I hope you haven't killed anyone there, have you?"

She blinked, blushing a bit and then readjusting the glasses on her nose, trying to look as serious as possible yet inevitably failing at that.

"What? O-Of course I haven't! What are you saying, Hokage-sama?!"

He smirked in amusement, and it was genuine for once. He had always found it fascinating how this kunoichi could switch between her civilian and professional sides in an instant, one second being an elite warrior who seemed to have no weaknesses, and then suddenly becoming a cute young woman with amazingly sweet manners as well as exceptional charms.

"Just kidding, don't worry. But, you need to realize that this is the job of Hokage. If you want to take on this mantle one day, you will have to do a lot of dirty work, and dealing with pimps and other scum is by far not the worst of it," he lectured her patiently, to which she nodded obediently, lowering her eyes in embarrassment.

"I understand, Hokage-sama. Please, forgive my impudent complain, it won't repeat again," she snapped, surprising Naruto with her tone that was now steel firm.

He sighed, shaking his head and suppressing a grin. What a girl… And why was she so determined to ruin her own future upon becoming the next Hokage...?

All of sudden, he felt the burning desire to stop her from that somehow. To convince her not to follow his footsteps, not to repeat his mistakes… But then he realized that he had absolutely no right to do any of that. He wasn't her father, and he wasn't even her friend. Of course, he was her mentor when it came to combat skills, but there was barely anything else connecting the two of them.

Besides, somehow he knew for sure that she wouldn't listen anyway…

"Like I said, relax. It's just the two of us here, no need to be so formal. I'm just making sure that you realize what you're getting yourself into, you know?" he asked, closing his eyes and rubbing his face before yawning. Of course, he didn't notice how she blushed as he pointed out the intimacy of the moment…

The girl turned away so that the light coming from the table lamp stopped reaching her face, hiding her expression in the semi-darkness of the office.

"I understand. So, anyway… With all due respect, you look really tired, Naruto-sama. Maybe—"

Oh, no…, he almost winced, Please, not you too… He squinted, not listening to the ending of her sentence.

"Hokage-sama?" she asked when the pause became too long, but there was no response.

"Hokage-sama?!" the girl repeated a bit louder, and the man in front of her flinched, peering at her with his immolated eyes.

"Huh…?" It sounded awkward and he suddenly looked so lost that there was a sign of fear on Sarada's face, but it was there only for a moment before she frowned and said:

"I just wanted to offer you my help."

"Help…?" he repeated dumbly, blinking at her perplexedly.

"Yeah. These papers," she nodded at the huge stack in the corner of the table, "These are the reports from the academy, aren't they? Pretty sure I could handle them with ease," she smirked, her self assured expression instantly reminding him of Sasuke.

"Eh… Nah, thank you, Sarada-chan, but there is no need—"

"I'm afraid there is," she paused, taking a deep breath as though afraid to say whatever was on her mind before she finally continued a few seconds later, while he stared at her in confusion and surprise, "You look like you're about to collapse, and such state definitely won't affect the quality of your work positively. Besides, I need practice, don't you agree?" she cocked her head slightly, almost coquettishly, and her expression that was somehow insolent and sheepish at the same time simply disarmed the man.

He sighed, getting up from his chair and making a welcoming gesture.

"Fine, you win. I'll take a nap meanwhile, if you don't mind. I guess I'm really a bit tired." He yawned, slowly walking toward the couch near the window. Only then did he notice absently that it was raining outside…

He turned around to glance at Sarada - her hair was indeed slightly wet.

"The tissues are in the locker to your right," he offered, but the kunoichi only waved at him dismissively as she uttered, reading through the first report:

"Kindly go to sleep already, I need to focus."

He smirked. Now she reminded him of Sakura… Sarada had sure turned into such a bossy young lady that he suddenly found it very cute for some reason.

And it was the last thought that crossed his mind before he would fall into the long awaited oblivion of dreams.


	3. The Lesser Evil

Authors' Note: Once again, we'd like to thank you for your reviews, we're always happy to see any constructive feedback!

 **Chapter 3. The Lesser Evil**  
  
_(By Oliver Vertran and Victoria Alfieri)_

"You didn't have to drink  _that_  much… you know?"

Naruto groaned quietly, rubbing his face before reaching out to take the glass out of his friend's hand, giving him a small grin that was full of appreciation and rue at the same time.

"Thanks, Shikamaru…," murmured the Seventh, drinking all the refreshing liquid at once. "Could you get me more? Please?"

"I'm afraid that was the last pill," the man shrugged, trying to hide his rather apparent amusement,"Besides, you deserve what you're feeling right now."

The Hokage gave him a deadpan stare before sighing meekly and leaning on the back of his seat.

"Considering  _what_  Sasuke told me… If you were there, you would've gotten even more wasted than I, duh."

"Uh huh?" The Nara crossed his arms on his chest and eyed the other ninja skeptically. "Doesn't sound very convincing so far. Care to elaborate?"

Naruto glanced through the window to the right from his secretary, slightly narrowing his eyes at the peaceful and welcoming clouds on the horizon.

"It's just as we presumed. The drastic increase of murder rate in Gaara's country has a very good reason behind it… Or rather, a quite nasty reason."

Shikamaru nodded curtly.

"I told you it couldn't be a random occasion. So, what exactly did Sasuke find out?" The man now sounded worried and excited at the same time — his typical reaction to something mysterious and dangerous that demanded a touch of the sharpest mind.

"As surprising as it sounds, the threat doesn't come from ninjas this time..."

The Nara blinked in confusion, as if he were unsure if he had heard his friend correctly.

"You're not making any sense, you know?" he finally said crossly, his fingers knocking nervously on the surface of Hokage's desk as Naruto paused for some reason.

"Yeah, I guess… But, that's how it is. This time it comes from civilians, and nobody in Land of Wind they've questioned so far knows how exactly, and by who was it started. All we know for now is… Well, it's a religious cult of some sort."

"A cult? In Sunagakure?" Shikamaru frowned. "Not something unheard of, isn't it? They've always had issues with various sects and fanatics."

"True, but…," Naruto sighed, glancing cautiously at the door for a moment. "Everything I tell you from now on is top secret information, so keep it in mind. Basically, this cult turns out to be very big, stealthy and potentially incredibly dangerous. They…," Naruto frowned as well, clenching his bandaged fist a few times, "They call themselves Vileblood, and they kill people for no apparent reason. All kinds of people, both civilians and ninjas."

"There is always a reason if you look closely enough," the bearded man snorted, to which Naruto only nodded.

"You're right, of course. And yet their police cannot figure it out so far. A random follower — and they never reveal, nor admit their allegiance in public if they get caught — targets another random person; kills him or her — for the sake of committing some nasty ritual, obviously, as they take a lot of their blood; and then they just kill themselves. Two deaths, no motives, no backstory. Nothing. Every time it's the same scenario, and nobody has a clue about what's going on."

Shikamaru's eyes widened more and more at his words as Naruto kept talking, but then the dark haired man winced and shook his head.

"Damn it… Now I get it why they're so confused. And… considering that the rate of deaths only grows every day… Holy shit, it's really—!" He seemed to be rendered speechless.

Naruto nodded again.

"Yep. That's not the worst thing Sasuke found out, though."

The Nara's face paled as he giggled nervously.

"What could possibly be worse than an exponentially growing spontaneous wave of murders and suicides? Wait, not even gonna bother guessing. Shoot it."

"He and Boruto also traveled to Land of Water after Suna, because Sasuke believed that the traces of this cult were leading there, to the Mist. He was right, but only partly; whoever had started this cult wasn't particularly interested in causing an uncontrollable mass murder like that. Their intention was, and still is to start a war between Five Great Countries, and it looks like they're about to achieve that. Also, the assassins who are targeting our families — they were hired by these people, too."

There was a long moment of oppressive silence inside the room that was lit by the gentle rays of the morning sun that was so not matching the anxious atmosphere the place was sunken into that the situation began to seem surreal to Shikamaru. Each of the shinobi was deep in their own thought for a while; it took him a few minutes to finally open his mouth and utter quietly yet vigorously:

"Naruto, this is—whoever these people are—they're trying to destroy the world. And I mean it, they want us all drown in blood! There is no other explanation; they clearly don't want money or power, for all they've trying to do until now was causing as much havoc and terror as possible!"

"Pretty much," Naruto shrugged apathetically, taking his pen and swinging it in his fingers. "It's not like there is anything we can do about it at the moment. I've already ordered to close our borders for civilians, both ways. Officially it's not been announced yet, but… Yeah. We're very close to a martial law."

Slightly taken aback by his rather cynical attitude that was not something usual to see coming from Naruto, Shikamaru slowly nodded then — after all, he could understand the reasons behind his behaviour.

"Yeah. At this rate we should consider this cult something like a plague. Basically our highest priority should be not letting it infect our country. But, all the trade agreements—"

"Are frozen for the time being." The Seventh's voice was incredibly firm.  _Another bad sign,_ thought Shikamaru grimly.

"Gokage are going to be furious considering that our economy right now is the biggest in the world. Was this why you demanded to arrange the unscheduled summit as soon as possible?"

"Yes. It's our only way to avoid a new Great War right now. Actually…," Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, instantly reminding the Nara that despite almost two decades having passed, deep inside their Hokage was still the same hot headed teen who desperately wanted to save everybody without ever thinking of himself, yet hardly having any idea what to do when fighting an enemy with his own fists was not an option, "I think it's our last resort," he uttered quietly and calmly, and his tone made this simple sentence sound a thousand times worse than it already was.

Because, in fact, it was obvious that Naruto didn't hope for the summit to solve anything. He was expecting the worst possible outcome… The question was, was he ready for it?

Were they  _all_  ready?

"Well… It doesn't really matter when you think about it," drawled Shikamaru slowly, looking out the window and staring at the clouds thoughtfully. "We still have our tomorrow to enjoy… And although strategy is important — probably the most important thing right now — nobody really knows what will happen the day after that. Let us do what we must, and come what may."

"Isn't that what we almost do?" Naruto smirked, glancing at him with the tiniest spark of the former merry fire in the blue eyes. "That's why I keep it all secret for now. If something terrible can't be avoided anyway, I just want those I care for to have another peaceful day to enjoy while they still can. I guess you could call that lying, but I do it for  _their_  sake. They wouldn't be able to help the situation in anyway, so I'll just do what I can to protect them… While  _I_ still can." It all sounded like was trying to excuse himself, almost like a desperate plea for indulgence…

That's why Shikamaru only grinned in return, clapping on the man's shoulder supportively. He was right, after all. There was simply no good course of action in a situation like this, so it didn't really matter what option would they choose. Therefore it was up to him and only him — the leader all of them had always trusted.

"Yeah, I guess. By the way… Don't forget to eat, you still look like shit." He nodded at the small bentō in the corner of the broad desk, almost inconspicuous among the various things that rested there creating a horrible chaos only Naruto found himself comfortable with.

"Huh?" The jinchuriki blinked, reaching out and grabbing the tiny box before his expression became baffled and curious at the same time. "I wonder…," he murmured and opened it, peeking inside, only to see an omelette with vegetables and a couple sausages — it looked nice yet very simple, as though whoever had cooked it had really tried to make haste. "Who on earth made it? Smells nice!"

Shikamaru frowned, looking slightly confused.

"What do you mean who? Is it not Hinata…?"

"Nah," Naruto shook his head absently, still staring at the food. "There is no clan signature on the box. And… Ah!" He suddenly grinned, "I knew it!" he added triumphantly, taking a pill out of the small separate section inside the bentō. "There is a mark of the hospital on it!"

"An anti hungover pill, huh? So… Sakura, then? Damn it, looks like you've avoided your punishment for yesterday, after all."

The Hokage smiled brightly as Shikamaru turned away and started walking toward the exit.

"Well, who else?" Naruto poured some water into the glass before putting the pill inside. "Gosh, sometimes I think I should've married her," he muttered under his nose, but his friend was able to hear it anyway - he sighed quietly, closing the door behind his back.

_You're not the only one to think so…_

**-~X~-**

It had been raining for the second day in a row bar a few short breaks, but Sarada didn't really mind it despite already being quite wet after the heavy training session. In fact, she rather enjoyed this kind of weather after the impossible heat they'd had in Konoha last month — the girl wasn't really fond of that kind of climate, always preferring winter over summer.. And now that September was finally there, and the long awaited refreshing breeze was pleasantly ruffling her wild hair as the girl was standing with her head thrown backwards. She was feeling incredibly happy and careless now that there was nobody to bother her; her eyes closed tiredly as she was breathing deeply, simply trying to enjoy the rare moment of complete silence and solitude.

After a few minutes of meditation Sarada smirked to herself, raising her left hand and rubbing her forehead — the elegant thin fingers touched the purple diamond shaped mark. She had finally managed to acquire her mother's trump card… The Byakugō seal. It had taken her almost one full year to accumulate enough chakra, but the preparations and studying the nature of this jutsu had lasted for much longer, of course. Still, it was totally worth it without a single doubt; after all, alongside her Sharingan, now it automatically made her one of the strongest ninjas in their country…

And definitely one of the most durable in the world.

Was she proud of herself? Well, if only the tiniest bit. After all, her current state was nowhere close to what she was planning to eventually achieve before she would become Hokage. Still, it felt surprisingly satisfying to know that she was finally becoming worthy of her clan's name. Her father would be so proud when he would find out…!

The girl flinched at the barely notable sound of someone's footsteps, slowly turning her head to the left and glancing at the small figure that was closing in from behind.

"You…?" she murmured to herself, standing up and turning around. Her eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected visitor, and the girl suddenly felt quite nervous.

Because of all the possible people, it was Uzumaki Hinata. And one needed not be a genius to realize that the fact that she had come here, all the way up to the Hokage monument, despite the thunderstorm and cold, could mean only one thing…

The woman had deliberately found Sarada with her Byakugan, and it was more than a little strange… if anything, it was quite suspicious and apprehensive.

"Uzumaki-sama? How can I help you?" asked the younger kunoichi, instantly activating her Sharingan to check the woman's chakra signature just in case — intruders had already tried to attack her within the village in the past.

And yet… it was, without a doubt, Naruto's wife.

Sarada frowned, forgetting to deactivate her dōjutsu that was now shining dangerously in the twilight of the rainy evening.

Hinata eyed the young kunoichi thoroughly, noticing how her soaked shirt stuck to her slightly pale skin, further emphasizing her already above average bust, along with her slightly messy and wet hair that rested on top of her breasts, ending just above her hips.

Then her gaze met her eyes, and Hinata almost gasped. The Hyuga couldn't help but feel intimidated by the young Uchiha's piercing red Sharingan; the same eyes that had caused the Infinite Tsukuyomi and the Great War... and the same eyes that had killed her beloved cousin Neji….

Hinata immediately brushed the depressing thoughts away, slightly shaking her head. If anything, she should be thankful to these eyes. The Sharingan… just like Byakugan, it was merely a tool possessed by people. These were also the same eyes that had helped to end the Great War alongside her husband Naruto, and apparently, according to Chōchō, these eyes probably belonged to their future Hokage as well.

"Sarada-chan… Please, I—I need you to tell me the truth… About Naruto-kun, I mean," said Hinata bluntly, staring deeply at the face of the young Uchiha.

The girl narrowed her eyes at the woman, unsure what exactly did she mean by her question. Clearly the situation at hand was very delicate… This awkward approach of hers in combination with Hokage's awful condition had instantly confirmed Sarada's earlier suspicion. It wasn't actually Hinata overthinking anything; something was seriously wrong within the Uzumaki clan, and for some reason she, Sarada, was apparently involved, directly or not. Otherwise this conversation wouldn't be happening...

"The truth…?" drawled the kunoichi thoughtfully, slowly eyeing Hinata up and down as though trying to win some time to think. Much like her husband lately, she didn't look very well herself to say the least. In fact, her face now resembled that of a zombie — apparently the Uzumaki hadn't slept last night at all. "What exactly do you want to know?" she asked carefully, as per usual in such situation retaining a perfectly calm expression, yet deep inside horribly afraid of somehow screwing up.

She couldn't fail the Seventh no matter what!

Despite having played possible scenarios of this conversation multiple times in her head before finally confronting the Uchiha, it seemed like Hinata had suddenly forgotten everything she had previously intended to say. What exactly was she going to ask the young girl anyway? Was she going to bluntly ask if Naruto had a lover…? That would be just ridiculous…

But, then again, there was no other way. Hinata, as his wife, deserved to know the truth.

"What I want to know is—"

She paused, lowering her gaze to the ground below their feet and hesitating to continue the sentence, pondering whether what she was about to say even had any point. Hinata eventually returned her gaze back to meet the Uchiha's blood red eyes and resumed her sentence, "Y-You spend a lot of time with N-Naruto-kun... Please... would tell me if he has a secret lover?"

Sarada didn't even blink at the sudden question, slowing down her breath as she quickly attempted to figure out what kind of reaction was she supposed to show right now, while at the same time fighting her own indignation.

A lover! A god damned  _lover_  was her concern?! Her husband wasn't even leaving his office, having to spend long nights and days at his desk, forgetting to eat and to sleep, and all this woman was thinking of was…  _a lover?_

The Uchiha gritted her teeth, but otherwise she showed no sign of any emotion. Honestly, she had always thought of this woman much higher than  _this_ …  
_  
How unsightly… Is this where jealousy can lead one to?_ She slowly let out a long sigh, taking a few steps closer to Hinata but then stopping again, pursing her lips and rapidly thinking. Hokage's wife right now indeed deserved pity… and Sarada wasn't a cruel girl, nor was she very selfish; despite her own feelings for the Seventh, she truly wanted to comfort this woman who was now standing in front of her, almost looking broken, as though clinging to the young kunoichi like to her last hope.

"Uzumaki-sama… I believe this is an informal conversation, isn't it? In this case, I'd like to be completely sincere with you." Sarada paused, looking away — whatever reaction to her words would follow, she still needed to say what she had to say if she wanted to help Naruto, which she absolutely did. "Frankly, I have absolutely no idea what's going on between you and your husband. Obviously he doesn't talk to me about it, as you probably already figured out by yourself. But… I'm not an idiot; by looking at either of you, I can say that things are not very smooth. That's why I really advise you to change your attitude when it comes to what he does… I mean, in general, not only to you," she uttered, returning her gaze to Hinata's face then.

The former Hyūga couldn't help but faintly scowl at the fact that Sarada had just  _dodged_  the question she had previously asked. It was a simple "yes or no" kind of question anyway; why did the Uchiha have to make it harder than it already was...?

Hinata clenched her fists, sinking in anger and desperation. Clearly Sarada truly didn't understand a single thing that was going on between her and Naruto, as expected; but, how dumb did Sarada think she was? She wouldn't be reacting this way without a good reason! Even without being simply told of Hinata's reasoning, was it really that hard to imagine what life was like for a woman who never got to see her husband...? She, of all people, should be able to understand, being the daughter of someone like Sasuke. After all, hadn't Sarada almost gotten herself killed by Uchiha Shin due to this very same kind of neglection toward their family...?

"Sarada-chan... P-Please don't misunderstand my intentions. I—I know how the s-situation looks from your p-point of view right now, and… T-Trust me, I—I never wanted for any of this to be happening either! B-But, I would greatly appreciate it—if you would answer my earlier q-question."

The Uchiha almost growled at how stubborn Hinata was in her stupid assumptions. It was the first time in a very long time when she felt truly angry at someone.  _This woman…_  She was either absolutely egoistic and delusional, or a hopeless idiot…! She downright refused to see or hear anything besides whatever was related to her obsession, she didn't even try to understand…!

While Sarada clenched her fists and was trying hard to keep her emotions at bay, Hinata added quietly, almost whispering as she lowered her eyes timidly:

"Is it… is it Sakura-san? Are they—"

The woman didn't get to finish her sentence — she flinched as Sarada instantly appeared an inch away from her, their noses almost touching. She was gazing at her with despise from above, and it made the impression on Hinata that the girl was now towering over her despite being just a couple inches taller than the woman; the fury in the burning red irises was so unbridled and intensive that Hinata couldn't help but step back, her own pearl white eyes widening in fear.

"Don't you dare accuse my mother of something as low and dirty! You may be Hokage-sama's wife, but I won't just swallow such an insult to my clan. I strongly advise you to watch your mouth from now on,  _Uzumaki-sama_ ," she uttered quietly yet venomously, almost shaking resentfully.

Absolutely shocked by Sarada's almost threatening words, and even more so by her feral expression that instantly reminded the woman of her infamous ancestors, Hinata couldn't help but gasp and put her hands over her mouth.

However, this was shortly followed by a stream of tears as she finally realized that it was a dead end. Not only did she constantly fail to get along with her own husband, but now she had also turned this girl who was absolutely not obliged to bother with her and Naruto's problems, against her...!

"I—I'm so terribly sorry! I d-didn't m-mean to offend you… It's just that… m-my marriage is—i-it's slowly falling apart, and no matter what I do, I just cannot help it! I d-don't know w-what to do anymore...!"

And with that last sentence, Hinata's shaking legs collapsed against her will, making her land on her knees on the solid stone as she continued crying, her tiny frame shaking.

"He—Naruto-kun-he keeps lying to me all the time! I—I can tell f-for sure that—that he's unhappy with me, b-but I d-don't know why! It could o-only mean that… h-he doesn't love me anymore!"

Then she began to tell, horribly stuttering and sobbing uncontrollably, about everything that had stacked up throughout the last few years. From the lack of feelings on Naruto's side to the way he avoided her recently, never trusting her enough to reveal at least some of the things that occupied his mind and life, almost seeming like a stranger to nowadays. Sniffling and wiping her tears, Hinata eventually finished her monologue by telling Sarada of his failure to even share the fact that he had a student in the face of the girl herself.

The Uchiha was staring at her silently in disbelief, completely shocked by how surreal all of it felt. Not only did this woman, who had been vastly considered a royal figure in Land of Fire, was now kneeling in front of her and revealing her most fearful and devastating secrets, but she also did it to  _her,_ the person who was in love with her husband…!

Now Sarada felt horribly torn from the inside. Of course, she wasn't an evil person, nor was she any cruel, or at least so she believed herself. Of course, having heard Hinata's heartbreaking story, she felt an impossibly strong desire to comfort the woman in some way. That's why as soon as she stopped talking, the girl slowly lowered and hugged her, rubbing her back and deactivating her Sharingan the next second before closing her eyes.

Yet at the same time… The Uchiha couldn't help but scold herself for the tiniest spark of hope that made her entire being clutch in anticipation. If the Seventh was unhappy with his family, then maybe… Just  _maybe_  she could…!

Sarada bit her lip to the point of feeling the slightly bitter salty taste of blood on her tongue. No, she wasn't supposed to think about it! She wasn't like  _that_ …!

"Uzumaki-sama…," she then began, trying to sound as soft and compassionate as possible, "I'm not allowed to reveal any of the information Hokage-sama doesn't tell you. However… You may rest assured that he doesn't have a secret lover, nor anything like that. At least I swear that I haven't noticed any signs of it so far, and like you said it yourself — I spend a lot of time around him, so I reckon I would know for sure." She backed off a tad, meeting Hinata's lost and hopeful gaze again,

"There is an important reason why he doesn't let anyone know that I am his apprentice, which has nothing to do with you; and lastly, like I said…  _Please_ , try to hear me this time. You need to try to look at the whole situation from a different angle. Your husband is a very important person, important to the entire world; and yet he truly and genuinely cares about you, his family. Once again, if he believes that it's best for you not to know about something that is going on with his work, it doesn't mean that he hides it out of selfishness, nor because he doesn't trust you. As Hokage of the strongest hidden village in the world, he has much more responsibilities than you can probably imagine, and the paperwork is only the pinnacle of this iceberg."

Hinata took a breath of relief and then smiled sheepishly at the Uchiha, staring at her now onyx eyes.

_So I really was overreacting after all… I guess I'm an utter idiot..._

Why had she believed the Akimichi girl's silly assumption anyway? Why had she let herself go through all that mental and emotional suffering because of that ludicrous suggestion? That girl clearly knew nothing except gossip and ideas from cheap novelette narratives...

But still… the former Hyūga now also felt immense guilt because of her previous accusation towards Sakura. Who did she think she was anyway… ? She had no right to make such foolish and vulgar assumptions so ironically worthy of Chōchō, and especially to voice them in front of the child of the woman she had suspected! Not to mention her truly shameful selfishness… While Naruto was unable to come home due to the abundance of work thrown on him every day, she was suspecting him of such horrible things! What kind of wife did she turn to be...? Creating a drama instead of trying to support and understand him…!

She mentally slapped herself out of guilt and self loathing, suddenly realizing that everything around darkened for a second.  _The lack of sleep must be taking effect…,_ she thought, trying desperately to excuse herself from her abnormal and highly inappropriate behaviour, though realizing that in reality, there hardly was an excuse for it.

"I—I see… Thank you, Sarada-chan," she quietly replied, lowering her gaze to the ground and avoiding eye contact with the girl. It took the Uzumaki some time and a few deep breaths before she found the courage to hopelessly lock eyes with the young Uchiha again and begin,

"S-So what do you suggest I do? How do I—I make him see that I truly do c-care about him? How d-do I make him stop pushing me away? I—I understand h-he's Hokage, and that there are s-some things he c-can't tell me, b-but..."

Sarada then finally let go of her and got up, wiping dirt off her knees and then looking at the woman again.

"I'm pretty sure he knows that you care for him, Uzumaki-sama. What, I reckon, you need to realize is that whatever is going on is not about you at all. If you're asking for my advise — stop focusing so much on your own discomfort and pointless reflecting, and try… Just try be there for him when he needs you. That's—"

_...That's what I do for him myself…!_

"...Exactly what he needs from his family right now. Himawari-chan's birthday is in nine days, isn't it?" she smiled at Hinata reassuringly, trying to be as friendly as possible while in reality, for the very clear reason, feeling absolutely horrible and hypocrite. "Since Boruto is away, try to make it a nice and comfortable party for the three of you, and whoever Himawari-chan invites. And I—," she stopped for a second, unsure if what she was about to say would be a really bold claim for someone as meaningless in comparison to them as she, Naruto's apprentice, "I'll make sure he comes… in person, that is." She winked at Hinata and reached out, offering her hand to help the woman get up.

Naruto's wife flinched.  _Come in person?_ Would it even be possible...? He would have most certainly done it before if it was…

Just before giving up on that possibility, Hinata suddenly realized something which made her eyes widen. Sarada… She was Naruto's successor, wasn't she? And by saying what she had just said… Was she going to take over the loads of work that her husband spent weeks... on just to make sure that he comes home... to them?

Perhaps the Uchiha was way more compassionate than Hinata had previously given her credit for…

This thought only made Hinata's guilt intensify, causing the inner corners of her eyebrows to raise in sadness. She then mentally promised herself not to ever be so selfish again… Especially as the Hokage's wife…! And especially to this kind girl.

"I'm truly sorry for my awfully inappropriate behaviour and for d-disrespecting your mother…," she whispered, feeling genuinely ashamed to even bring up her biggest regret, "T-That was unlike me at all…," she softly added and sniffled.

Sarada looked away and sighed. Normally she probably wouldn't have forgiven that so easily, but she still felt guilty herself for her own secret thoughts about the whole situation, and especially for her feelings about Naruto. That's why she only murmured quietly, not looking into Hinata's eyes:

"I understand. Don't worry about it. I know what it's like… to feel like your love is not returned," she said ambiguously, still offering the Uzumaki her hand. "Please, get up already. You might catch a cold at this rate, and don't think it would help you impress Hokage-sama if he suddenly decides to come home tonight." Her lips curved into a small grin as she was secretly hoping that she wouldn't have to talk to Hinata again anytime soon. It felt horribly wrong to be around her while secretly having naughty dreams about her husband…

The girl almost cursed herself, happy that it was already dark enough to hide the blush on her cheeks. And why hadn't she inherited this amazing trait not to ever blush from her father…?

The Uzumaki returned the smile perplexedly as she saw that, to her great relief, Sarada forgave her, and then she finally took the Uchiha's hand, which helped her get up from the ground she was kneeling on. She quickly wiped the dirt off her pants as well, and then subtly noticed that her legs were still slightly shaking.

 _It really isn't healthy to deprive myself of sleep like this…,_ Hinata noted, glad that she wouldn't have to be help up by her devastating assumptions anymore, seeing as Naruto indeed hadn't a secret lover, and was, in fact, working hard to support his family like she had previously always told herself.

 _Perhaps I should get to know Naruto's student and possibly our future Hokage better…? Maybe it will even help me improve my marriage… After all Naruto is indeed quite close with her,_ she thought silently, while still being thankful for the Uchiha's massive help and kindness. Who could have known that an Uchiha could be so warm hearted? Clearly Sarada was absolutely nothing like her infamous father…

Hinata decided, if anything, that she most certainly needed to invite the girl to Himawari's birthday party as a token of appreciation. If, by any chance, things would go differently than she assumed and Naruto turned to be unable to come to the party, at least Sarada would be there and it wouldn't be so lonely and sad.

"No n-need to address me so formally, Sarada-chan… A-After everything you did for me—for us—I consider you a friend!" she said warmly, timidly hoping that Sarada would return the offer of friendship, "A-And speaking of Himawari's birthday... Y-You are very much invited to come, too!" she finally suggested, eagerly awaiting Sarada's answer.

The girl's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected suggestion. A  _friend_ …? That was definitely unnecessary to say the least. Why would she become friends with  _her_ , of all people? They had literally nothing in common except for the person they had feelings for. And yet…

There was something in the Uzumaki's face that made the girl feel strong empathy and a strange will to agree. Besides, although Sarada felt like it would put her on a new level — after all, an offering of friendship meant, in her own opinion, recognition of her as an equal. And that would be a perfect testament to the fact that she wasn't a child anymore — something she wanted everyone around to finally realize.

_Especially Naruto…_

But, would it be noble to agree? To become friends with this woman while secretly hoping (which she, in fact, refused to admit even to herself) that her marriage would indeed fall apart...? Both the options were no good, but the silent plea in Hinata's kind tear stained eyes clearly meant that she needed Sarada, and yet… Wouldn't it be too selfish to use  _this_  way to get closer to  _him_ , and to get to know him better through someone who had spent so many years with the Seventh?

It was an unsolvable dilemma, and she had no time to think on it. No matter how she looked at it, to reject this woman right now would most likely mean to offend her, and it totally wasn't Sarada's intention. Only for that sole reason did she squeeze out a tired and polite smile which, she absently thought, probably was similar to what Naruto's wife often saw on his own face, and uttered:

"Of course, Hinata-san. I'd be glad to be friends with you. And speaking of the party… If I'm free on that day, I'll come for sure."

Oddly, it seemed like her forcibly polite response more than satisfied Hinata — in fact, the Uzumaki looked as though she had just heard something she had secretly wanted to hear for a long time, because she then added, sounding genuinely happy now:

"That's-that's just splendid, Sarada-chan! And, I-I'd like to also tell you that… Well, even if you d-don't make it to the party, you're always welcome to come to our house for a cup of tea, or if you need anything at all!" She smiled at her so brightly that it almost made Sarada want to jump off the cliff in shame. The girl suddenly felt like a horrible, absolutely disgusting two faced bitch because of the feelings and thoughts she secretly harboured deep inside…

"Uh… Of course, Hinata-san. I very much appreciate it, and it's mutual, of course. Although, since you're already friends with my mother, I suppose there was no need to say that," she smirked unsurely, and Hinata giggled, nodding. "Well then, I need to go now. I still have things to do before the night, and you should probably get going as well — it really looks like you need some sleep. So long!"

Having said that, Sarada disappeared with a Shunshin, leaving Hinata alone yet finally relatively at peace.

**-~X~-**

It was already quite late in the evening when he heard the familiar soft knocking on his door which made him snap out of his thought and raise his head to glance at the door. The heavy rain was constantly drumming on the windowsill from the outside, but he didn't mind it at all — the sound was somehow relaxing, bringing the tired man some kind of odd comfort he couldn't quite recognize. Maybe it was something from his childhood…?

He wasn't sure.

"Enter," he said quietly, and the door immediately opened — Sarada walked inside the room, coming close to his table and bowing her head.

"Hokage-sama, it's done. I've finished my training," she announced, the pride in her voice clearly readable

He blinked, feeling slightly confused for a moment, as though not realizing it instantly what she was talking about.

"Ah!" He then gasped, nodding in belated excitement. "The seal! Have you tested it yet?"

She smirked, unbuttoning the lower part of her top and showing him the traces of gore slightly above her stomach.

"I stabbed myself here, twice. And as you can see, I'm perfectly fine. I guess it's safe to say that it works," she readjusted her glasses, looking very pleased with herself — and she had a reason to be that way. After all, unlike her mother she was no medic, and yet the girl had managed to achieve something Sakura had accomplished at the same age while specializing on healing.

To Sarada, however, it was just a way to become more powerful — unlike the pink haired kunoichi, she didn't find it any appealing to spend her days and nights in a hospital.

"Perfect! You've done well, Sarada-chan. Feel free to rest now; we're going to spar tomorrow in the morning. Now I can start teaching you the real things!" He winked at her, looking really excited despite his all in all exhausted and apathetic exterior.

"I'm looking forward to it, Hoka— _Naruto-_ sama," she corrected herself and smiled, blushing a little and almost jumping in anticipation.

Her eyes then stopped on the empty box in the corner of the table — and her face suddenly paled as she glanced back at the Seventh who had followed the direction she was looking at and smirked.

"O-oh," he drawled teasingly, "So I was right about the bentō!"

"Uh…," she suddenly found herself dumbfounded, unsure what to say or do. She hadn't seen this conversation coming when she had prepared it for him — she had merely wanted him to have something healthy for breakfast…

"It was really tasty! I loved it, and—," Sarada hated herself at the moment; all she wanted to do was to just somehow disappear from this plane of existence as she felt her lips curving into the foolish happy smile at his words as she lowered her eyes sheepishly.

"...Could you please send my regards to Sakura-chan and thank her for this?"

_What the…?_

She blinked, unsure if she had just heard him right.

_This is… He thinks that mom—!_

The girl was now blushing even more than she had in the beginning of this conversation, feeling embarrassed, frustrated, angry and ashamed at the same time.

But, she then quickly got a hold of herself. Sarada couldn't let him get any wrong idea — or, in this particular case, the right one, for it would still be horribly  _wrong_  -— so she simply kept smiling and nodded.

"Of course. It will be done, Naruto-sama."

He grinned and nodded.

"That's my girl! Thanks. Well… You may feel free to rest now. And, before you ask — I'm going to sleep soon too, all the paperwork is done for now. Finally, damn it!" He stretched his back and arms with great pleasure, yawning tiredly yet happily for some reason.

Sarada hesitantly smiled back and then nodded again.

"I see... But, actually, Naruto-sama… There is something else I wanted to tell you. If you wouldn't mind, that is."

He met her conflicted gaze, frowning a tad at her worried expression.

"Huh? What is it, Sarada-chan? Something happened?"

She licked her lips thoughtfully, once again feeling torn apart. Was she ruining her fantasy for good right now? Would this bury this tiny spark of betraying hope that was making her feel so warm inside…?

But then the girl clenched her fists and gritted her teeth vigorously. She wasn't going to backstab Hinata for the sake of something as phantom and dubious; besides, she wasn't some bastard to do something as low and nasty to the poor woman who had just asked her to help.

Uchiha Sarada was no scum!

"Yes and no," she finally began, her voice becoming dead serious and calm, yet somewhat soft at the same time. "Hokage-sama…  _Naruto-san_ ," she uttered, feeling that it was the most informal way she could possibly call him right now, "I understand it's none of my business, but - you're not just my mentor and my commander. Make no mistake, I respect your privacy, your decisions and by no means am I trying to tell you what you do. Yet still…," she paused, realizing that his expression was also very serious now — in fact, she couldn't remember ever seeing him like this outside a fight. Was he already mad at her…?

Surprisingly, this idea didn't make her waver at all.

"...Still, I believe I need to tell you something... not as your subordinate, but as—as a friend," she said the last word carefully, unsure if she could even consider them friends — after all, Naruto was significantly older than her, and he was all those things she had just mentioned — her boss and her teacher at the same time.

And yet, if she was friends with his wife, technically she could be friends with him too, couldn't she? At least when they were out of duty…

"I'm listening," he said softly, not moving his gaze off her face.

"Well, I really believe that you should go home tonight. You see, I—I encountered your wife earlier today," she noticed that his face darkened a little bit, but decided to continue nonetheless, "It so happened that I found out a lot about her concerns regarding you and your family. And—I think you should give her a chance to understand you."

He closed his eyes and sighed, turning his head away before finally uttering,

"Sarada, this is not as simple as you—"

"I know it," she interrupted him, astonished by her own courage for a moment before continuing, "But, I think you are making it unnecessarily complicated. Yes, you cannot tell Hinata-san all the truth about what's going on, but… Well, there are other ways to calm down a woman. Just—just show her that you truly  _do_ care. It doesn't have to be anything big, you don't have to really tell her anything important or secret, but she must feel that you're still there… for her… And for Himawari-chan," she smiled softly at his baffled expression while Naruto was staring at her as though he was seeing the girl for the first time in his life.

He remained silent for a while, and so did she. Sarada didn't know how many minutes had passed before he finally got up and murmured:

"It's pretty late, Sarada-chan. You should go to sleep soon if you want to rest properly before tomorrow's spar."

She lowered her eyes sadly, biting her lip. Had she just done something wrong after all? Yes, that seemed to be the case.

 _Well, at least I did all I could… I really tried my hardest,_ she thought, bowing politely and turning away the next moment.

"Good night, Hokage-sama."

"Wait," he suddenly said and she froze, turning her heat to glance at him in surprise over her shoulder while he was taking a big umbrella from one of the lockers and then draped his white mantle over his broad shoulders. "I'm going back to my house, so I'll take you home along the way. It's raining after all," he raised the umbrella slightly awkwardly, as though to point that out.

The kunoichi couldn't hold back a happy smile at the unusual warmth and appreciation in his voice — perhaps for the first time in her life she was feeling truly recognized and accepted by this man. And although it had nothing to do with the kind of feelings she had for him, it was still… possibly the greatest moment of her life so far. Because she had defeated herself and made the right choice in the end — no matter what, she still remained a good and self aware person, and people were finally beginning to accept her as such.

And it was all that mattered for now.

**-~X~-**

She was seeing another nightmare — or rather the same one she'd been having for the third day in a row. Someone was chasing her down the empty narrow lanes of an unknown settlement, and no matter how fast did she try to run away,  _he_  was still closing in on her, the dreadful light of the burning red eyes flashing from the dirty fabric of his hood that was completely hiding his face…

Except the smirk. The devilish smirk of a beast that was toying with his prey...

She screamed, but there was not a single sound coming off her lips, which made the icy grip of desperation and fear clench on her throat, slowly strangling the woman as she tried to wake up again and again, unable get away...

She flinched and yelped as she suddenly felt someone pulling her out of this delirious vision — the Uzumaki matriarch's white eyes finally snapped open, quickly realizing that it was just a dream again, and that she was still inside her bedroom...

With someone hugging her waist from behind, the familiar warm breath nicely tickling the soft skin of her neck.

"N-Naruto-kun…?" she whimpered quietly, turning her head slightly and recognizing his face with the corner of her eye.

"Yeah. It's still deep night. Sleep."

She frowned, muttering:

"B-But—"

"Shush. I'll tell you everything in the morning. Just sleep now and don't worry about anything. You're safe. I'm here, with you."

The woman smiled then, closing her eyes.

He was finally there. He was with her. And it was all that really mattered for now.


End file.
